Aviation policy for sops to regional carriers

New Delhi: The civil aviation ministry has proposed a five-year exemption for “regional airlines” from airport and navigation charges for destinations they fly.
To improve regional connectivity and create regional hubs, the ministry has mooted a proposal to set up “regional airlines”, defined as carriers with aircraft having less than 80 seats and which operate exclusively on regional routes from any one metropolitan airport, which includes Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
This proposal is a part of the comprehensive aviation policy that the ministry has submitted to the Cabinet and which has now been referred to a group of ministers (GoM).
The ministry has also suggested that the first airline to connect cities that are not linked by air should be exempt from all airport and navigation charges at both airports for the first year of operation. For regional airlines, navigation and landing charges could constitute around 10 per cent of overall costs.
Under the new policy, the ministry has also proposed the establishment of an Essential Air Services Fund (EASF) to provide subsidy to airlines that operate on “uneconomical but essential routes” like the northeast. The subsidy support from the fund would be established through a transparent process of minimum subsidy bidding.
21/06/07 Surajeet Das Gupta & Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

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Categories: General Aviation Jun 2007