Bengaluru: The five-day Aero India 2019, Asia's premier show, which saw the indigenously developed light combat aircraft Tejas being given the Final Operational Clearance, concluded on Sunday.
The event had its share of disasters with a mid-air collision on February 20 between two Surya Kiran jets of the IAF aerobatic team during rehearsals, leaving one pilot dead and two injured. Following the mishap, the team was taken off the air show on the inaugural day.
The event was hit by another massive tragedy after a fire erupted at the parking lot of the Yelahanka Air Base here Saturday, gutting about 300 vehicles. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited the fire site and took stock of the situation Sunday. At a high level meeting, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy requested Ms Sitharaman to continue holding the air show at Bengaluru.
Combat aircraft Rafale was the star attraction at the show. Also, French aviation giant Airbus and American defence firm Lockheed Martin displayed their H225M helicopter and new F-21 fighter jets, respectively.
The first three days of the show, earmarked for business visitors, saw a footfall of approximately two lakh. As many as 500 B2B meetings were held and as many 50 MoUs were signed.
