Educational and entertaining!

Lost luggage. Frustrating delays. Bad food. It’s hard to get too excited about flying these days. Hard, that is, unless you’ve just boarded the Airbus A300 owned by former Indian Airlines engineer B.C. Gupta. Take, for example, the safety demonstration. After asking for a volunteer from the 120 or so kids crammed, some two to a seat, in the plane’s economy-class cabin, flight attendant Ridhi Sehgal explains how the oxygen masks work. A plastic deck chair appears and Sehgal helps the volunteer, a worried-looking boy of 7, up onto it so that the other passengers can see him. “This is just for show,” Sehgal explains. “You don’t have to stand on your chair; the oxygen will drop down to you.” The perky attendant runs through various drills ending with the life vest. “Do you know swimming?” she asks the boy. He looks around nervously before giving a small shake of his head.

He needn’t worry too much. The Airbus is not flying over water today. It isn’t going anywhere. Jammed into a suburban backyard near Indira Gandhi International Airport, its nose and tail hanging over the property’s walls and one wing almost nudging the front gate, the plane offers the adventure of air travel without the cost — or even the travel. Its passengers, most of whom have never been on a plane before, pay up to $4 each to join the jet set for a couple hours. India’s skies may be busier than ever these days — new airlines, including a raft of budget carriers, have made flying in India more affordable — but even a $20 ticket is too expensive for most Indians. “Flying,” says Gupta, “is still beyond the reach of the common man.”

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Educational and entertaining!

Lost luggage. Frustrating delays. Bad food. It’s hard to get too excited about flying these days. Hard, that is, unless you’ve just boarded the Airbus A300 owned by former Indian Airlines engineer B.C. Gupta. Take, for example, the safety demonstration. After asking for a volunteer from the 120 or so kids crammed, some two to a seat, in the plane’s economy-class cabin, flight attendant Ridhi Sehgal explains how the oxygen masks work. A plastic deck chair appears and Sehgal helps the volunteer, a worried-looking boy of 7, up onto it so that the other passengers can see him. “This is just for show,” Sehgal explains. “You don’t have to stand on your chair; the oxygen will drop down to you.” The perky attendant runs through various drills ending with the life vest. “Do you know swimming?” she asks the boy. He looks around nervously before giving a small shake of his head.

He needn’t worry too much. The Airbus is not flying over water today. It isn’t going anywhere. Jammed into a suburban backyard near Indira Gandhi International Airport, its nose and tail hanging over the property’s walls and one wing almost nudging the front gate, the plane offers the adventure of air travel without the cost — or even the travel. Its passengers, most of whom have never been on a plane before, pay up to $4 each to join the jet set for a couple hours. India’s skies may be busier than ever these days — new airlines, including a raft of budget carriers, have made flying in India more affordable — but even a $20 ticket is too expensive for most Indians. “Flying,” says Gupta, “is still beyond the reach of the common man.”

[ more ]