Why aviation is a key driver of job creation despite its small role in the overall economy

In terms of employment, aviation, despite being a small portion of the overall economy, is a key driver. It generates employment for almost 2 million citizens across the entire value chain, from the unskilled to the highly skilled. The direct and catalytic impacts are well documented. But what is also critical is the nature of those jobs and their consequences.

In fact, a single flight to a new airport can generate at least 31 direct jobs and more than 100 jobs across the aviation spectrum, an aspect that can be leveraged in a positive way.

Aviation creates jobs across the spectrum

The catalytic effects of jobs created by aviation are well documented. Studies by organisations ranging from ICAO to NACER indicate that for aviation, the output multiplier is between 3-4 times and the employment multiplier is between 5-7 times.

Airlines sit at the apex of the aviation value chain, with 140 to 240 new jobs created across the value chain for every new route launched. Importantly, these jobs span all categories, from highly technical specialties such as flight operations and aeronautical engineering to unskilled or semi-skilled positions such as sorting bags on a conveyor belt or refueling ground support equipment.

Furthermore, the nature of aviation operations lends itself to a fairly intense, collaboration-driven atmosphere. Whether it is airport operations, cargo operations, or wheelchair pushing, every process is conducted with a deadline, which in most cases is the departure or arrival of an aircraft.

This intense and collaborative nature of aviation operations creates opportunities for skills development, both through exposure to other functions, proximity and common purpose. Consequently, the benefit this has on skills development cannot be underestimated.

The argument that “aviation is for the elite” is invalidated

Critics argue that aviation remains the domain of an elite and that although millions of people take to the skies, they still account for only 12%-15% of the total population and less than 5% of the total travel base. And that the country should focus more on improving other modes of transport. The statistics are indeed humiliating.

For example, Indian Railways carries more domestic passengers in a given fortnight than the entire fleet of 650 commercial aircraft combined for the year. Yet, it could be argued that railways and other modes of transport do not have multiplier and economic effects of similar magnitude.

Similarly, aviation training creates additional opportunities for mobility, especially to other geographies. In fact, attrition and loss of aviation talent to foreign companies is almost a given. For now, India is not only providing skilled talent to Middle East geographies, but also to other geographies such as Nepal and Bangladesh.

This also has a net positive impact. When viewed as a whole, it indicates that it is possible to develop and nurture capabilities within the Indian ecosystem and to a level that enables talent to explore opportunities abroad.

Finally, generating output and employment requires addressing the issue of “home bias,” where lack of familiarity means that potential possibilities are not even considered. This is also a well-documented phenomenon, including with regard to investment and capital allocation.

Local bias contributes to businesses, especially smaller ones, not considering other possibilities because markets are not accessible. Expansion suffers, trade suffers, and talent is limited to the local market or has to consider migrating. Interestingly, this is rarely reflected in the data, as it only relates to current scenarios and not to missed opportunities due to lack of connectivity.

Towards greater success

Any mention of jobs in the current context is incomplete without incorporating the growing field of artificial intelligence. However, what is often overlooked with AI is that it comes at a cost. And the cost of development coupled with the cost of computation and the cost of storage make most solutions unviable. Therefore, it is worth the effort and the likely outcome is that the technology can complement and will replace the existing infrastructure. This is also better suited to the current context.

Overall, as the workforce expands every year and the need for jobs increases, aviation is a key enabler that can be leveraged for greater success. Connectivity drives trade, which in turn drives employment. And aviation helps provide this connectivity. As of today, the quickest and cheapest way to connect two city pairs is through air links. Therefore, schemes like UDAN are well worth the time, effort and resources invested to ensure successful outcomes. Today, the employment imperative is clearly on the horizon and fostering the aviation ecosystem can be one of the ways to address it.

—The author, Satyendra Pandey, is a managing partner of aviation services company AT-TV. The views expressed are personal.