New Delhi: Even as cash-strapped regional carriers Air Pegasus and Air Costa struggle to continue their operations, the ministry of civil aviation is doing an on-ground feasibility analysis and setting up action plans that can help troubled airlines to get back on track.
The aviation ministry is currently looking into the operational functioning and issues confronting the two carriers that recently led to temporary suspension of their services, a senior official from the civil aviation ministry, who did not want to be named, told InfraCircle.
A team of officials within the ministry is preparing an internal report and the ministry may adopt some of their recommendations in the final version of the regional connectivity scheme (RCS) to ensure a sound business model and long-term viability for regional carriers, the official added.
The RCS is an ambitious plan of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government that aims to connect remote areas across the country by operationalising unserved and underserved airports. Set up under the New Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), 2016, the project aims to restore a total of 390 airstrips out of which around 60 will be developed in the first phase. However, the government has received a tepid response from scheduled or non-scheduled domestic carriers due to financial and regulatory worries.
“We may also work on ease of leasing/importing aircraft besides reducing import duties. Another priority is to ensure ease of doing business for aircraft lessors and give them adequate protection of their leased property (aircraft),” the official detailed.
The way Air Pegasus and then Air Costa had suspended operations is a hard jolt for the NDA government, which is betting big on its much-touted RCS, said another aviation ministry official requesting anonymity. This may easily explain the civil aviation ministry’s willingness to chalk out a viability plan and handhold such carriers whenever it’s feasible.
09/08/16 Sanjay Singh/VCCircle
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The aviation ministry is currently looking into the operational functioning and issues confronting the two carriers that recently led to temporary suspension of their services, a senior official from the civil aviation ministry, who did not want to be named, told InfraCircle.
A team of officials within the ministry is preparing an internal report and the ministry may adopt some of their recommendations in the final version of the regional connectivity scheme (RCS) to ensure a sound business model and long-term viability for regional carriers, the official added.
The RCS is an ambitious plan of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government that aims to connect remote areas across the country by operationalising unserved and underserved airports. Set up under the New Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), 2016, the project aims to restore a total of 390 airstrips out of which around 60 will be developed in the first phase. However, the government has received a tepid response from scheduled or non-scheduled domestic carriers due to financial and regulatory worries.
“We may also work on ease of leasing/importing aircraft besides reducing import duties. Another priority is to ensure ease of doing business for aircraft lessors and give them adequate protection of their leased property (aircraft),” the official detailed.
The way Air Pegasus and then Air Costa had suspended operations is a hard jolt for the NDA government, which is betting big on its much-touted RCS, said another aviation ministry official requesting anonymity. This may easily explain the civil aviation ministry’s willingness to chalk out a viability plan and handhold such carriers whenever it’s feasible.
09/08/16 Sanjay Singh/VCCircle
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