On an Indian aircraft, towards the rear exit, you might have noticed a few letters/numbers, starting with the letters VT
Ever wondered what this stands for?
This is the country code of the aircraft. Just like all ships have to display the flag of the country they belong to, all aircraft have to indicate their country through this country code.
The country code is assigned by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
The country code for India is VT.
VT stands for Victorian Territory/Viceroy’s Territory.
This code was assigned to Indian aircraft in 1929 by the British government. The prefix V was added to all the colonies at that time.
Even the Prime Minister of India travels in an aircraft with the country code VT.
However, India has not been a Viceroy territory for 74 years now.
After getting independence, almost all the colonies have changed their country code.
According to the petition, countries like China, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka changed their codes.
Pakistan changed its code to AP after the partition from India.
Likewise, China changed to B.
Bahamas changed the sign from ‘VP-B’ to ‘C6’, Nepal changed to ‘9N’, Sri Lanka from ‘VP-C’ to ‘4R’ and Zimbabwe from ‘VP-W’ to ‘Z’.
Has India tried to change its country code earlier?
An effort was made in the past to change it to BA(Bharat) or IN(India) but the application was rejected. The then Aviation Minister, Mr. Praful Patel, had stated that because India could not get a code of its choice, it will function with “VT’ only.
So, what has happened now? Will our country code be changed?
No. At this time, only a Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Delhi High Court, seeking that the Central Government should change the country code of India.
The change will only happen if the central government agrees, and files an application with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This application needs to be approved by the international bodies before anything can change on the ground.