VT continues to rule Indian skies

Despite plans to scrap Brit relic Viceroy's Territory it will remain the registration code for all aircraft

VT continues to rule Indian skies

Despite plans to scrap Brit relic Viceroy's Territory it will remain the registration code for all aircraft

After spending considerable time and energy, the government of India has decided to give up its efforts to repaint and re-register all aircraft in the country, simply because the tail number identification, VT (Viceroy's Territory), is a relic of the British era.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told MiD DAY that the government had decided not to replace VT as the international code of registration for Indian aircraft.

A Civil Aviation Ministry spokesperson said, "Several options were considered to replace the VT sign with something more distinctly Indian, but nothing worked out."

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MiD DAY had front paged the story on May 13, 2008, 'Angrez chale gaye VT chhod gaye'u00a0 on how the government's hunt for a new tail sign meant that all planes in the country would have to be repainted and re-registered.

Among other signs examined by the government were B (for the Hindi word Bharat) or the letter I for India.
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However, both these have already been assigned to China and Italy, respectively. The government was of the view that the VT registration did not make any sense in post-colonial India.

The ministry was in touch with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to get a new identification code.

Interestingly, the ITU allotted X, V, AT, AW, T and 8Y to India all of which were in no manner found to be symbolic to India.

What's VT?

The sign VT can be seen on both commercial and private aircrafts in India. The VT prefix, allotted in 1929, stands for either Victorian Territory or Viceroy's Territory.
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Radio call signs starting with the letter 'V' were first allotted at the London International Radiotelegraphic Conference in 1913.

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