Observing that “it is a policy decision”, the Delhi High Court on Monday refused to entertain BJP leader Ashiwini Upadhyay– A serial litigator – petition demanding the removal of the call sign ‘VT’ written on all Indian aircraft, calling it a “symbol of slavery”. The court asked him to approach the government, saying, “It is for the government to do.”
what’s the problem: Describing it as a relic of India’s colonial past, Upadhyay’s petition mentions that “the prefix ‘VT’ stands for ‘Victorian Territory and Viceroy’s Territory’, which is the nationality code assigned to every aircraft registered in India. Must be carried.”
is he right? Yes. Each country is assigned a unique call sign to identify the aircraft registered in its territory. For example, the US is assigned the call sign ‘N’ while Russia is assigned ‘RA’. India was handed its call sign during the International Radiotelegraph Convention in Washington in November 1927. Since India was under British occupation as their colony at the time, the British chose VT, which stood for Victorian/Viceroy’s Territory. The British actually set the call sign of all their colonies starting with V.
Was this the only option? No. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) allotted three series of call signals to India from which it can choose one, with countries allowed to choose either the first one or the first two letters of the series. ITU offered India three series – ATA-AWZ, VTA-VWZ and 8TA-8YZ. The British chose VT from the second series and she stuck.
Is it permanent? not enough. Some countries, such as Pakistan, which also had the same call sign as India, decided to choose APs from the APA-ASZ series that were newly allocated. India attempted to obtain BA or IN during the UPA tenure, except that ‘B’ was already taken by China while ‘I’ was taken by Italy.
And then there’s money: Each call sign is further sub-divided according to the airline’s code. For example, IndiGo aircraft have the call sign VT-IGS whereas Vistara, this is VT-TTB. Since an aircraft is not allowed to operate without a call sign, changing the call sign means repainting all aircraft of all airlines as well as making changes to all documents related to the aircraft. in a debate on this issue Lok Sabha Last year, Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh had informed that unless the markings are changed, “the plane will remain on the ground” which means loss of revenue for the airlines.
what’s the problem: Describing it as a relic of India’s colonial past, Upadhyay’s petition mentions that “the prefix ‘VT’ stands for ‘Victorian Territory and Viceroy’s Territory’, which is the nationality code assigned to every aircraft registered in India. Must be carried.”
is he right? Yes. Each country is assigned a unique call sign to identify the aircraft registered in its territory. For example, the US is assigned the call sign ‘N’ while Russia is assigned ‘RA’. India was handed its call sign during the International Radiotelegraph Convention in Washington in November 1927. Since India was under British occupation as their colony at the time, the British chose VT, which stood for Victorian/Viceroy’s Territory. The British actually set the call sign of all their colonies starting with V.
Was this the only option? No. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) allotted three series of call signals to India from which it can choose one, with countries allowed to choose either the first one or the first two letters of the series. ITU offered India three series – ATA-AWZ, VTA-VWZ and 8TA-8YZ. The British chose VT from the second series and she stuck.
Is it permanent? not enough. Some countries, such as Pakistan, which also had the same call sign as India, decided to choose APs from the APA-ASZ series that were newly allocated. India attempted to obtain BA or IN during the UPA tenure, except that ‘B’ was already taken by China while ‘I’ was taken by Italy.
And then there’s money: Each call sign is further sub-divided according to the airline’s code. For example, IndiGo aircraft have the call sign VT-IGS whereas Vistara, this is VT-TTB. Since an aircraft is not allowed to operate without a call sign, changing the call sign means repainting all aircraft of all airlines as well as making changes to all documents related to the aircraft. in a debate on this issue Lok Sabha Last year, Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh had informed that unless the markings are changed, “the plane will remain on the ground” which means loss of revenue for the airlines.