Srinagar, June 15 -- When India's first commercial flight took off in 1911 within Allahabad, little had the world hoped for any remarkable uptake of this sector in a price-sensitive, nascent market like India. However, over time, the rising Indian middle class embraced this mode of transport, and thus, with economies of scale kicking in, fares dipped. This defined the Indian civil aviation growth story until 2016.

In the year 2016, this sector saw a tectonic change take place. The gates of airports opened up for first-time fliers, mostly those who wore "hawaichappals" i.e. India's poor to lower middle-class population. No, this trend wasn't restricted to those residing only in the cities. Small no-frills airports sprouted in places like ...