After 75 years of independence, there is a colonial legacy that is flying high on Indian skies: civil aircraft registered in India continue to carry the ‘VT’ prefix standing for Viceroy’s Territory. The central government is hesitant to change the registration as it is a complicated and costly process for airlines.
The code ‘VT AAA’ or ‘VT ZZZ’ on aircraft may be depicted in the same way as the registration number of a vehicle. Changes to the code have been sought for a long time as it is a relic of colonial rule, but subsequent governments do not find it easy to do so.
“If we change the VT call sign then all the documents have to be reissued, the plane will have to be repainted and we cannot fly until all the signs are changed. The aircraft will remain on the ground during the entire process. It will also have a major financial impact on airlines,” Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
He further informed that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has allocated three series of call signals to India – ATA-AWZ, VTA-VWZ and 8TA-8YZ. As per the provisions of Annex 7 to the Chicago Convention, India had the option to choose its call sign from the above three series for Indian registered aircraft. India was assigned the call sign ‘VT’ during the International Radiotelegraph Convention of Washington, signed in Washington on November 27, 1927. Like India, each country has a one- or two-character alphanumeric code to identify the aircraft. E.g. US has ‘N’, UK has ‘G’, UAE has ‘A6’, Singapore has ‘9V’, etc. According to the World Factbook maintained on the website of cia.gov, these codes indicate the nationality of civilian aircraft. Article 20 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention), signed in 1944, requires that all aircraft engaged in international air navigation carry the appropriate nationality marks. The aircraft registration number consists of two parts: a prefix consisting of a one- or two-character alphanumeric code indicating nationality and a registration suffix of one to five characters for the specific aircraft. Prefix codes are based on radio call-signs assigned by the ITU to each country. Since 1947, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has been managing the code standards and their allocation.
Prior to this, colonies under British rule had aircraft codes starting with V, as prescribed by the British government. However, later many countries like Sri Lanka (4R) or even Nepal (9N).
.