Govt to offer more sops to improve air connectivity

New Delhi: The government may offer more incentives to regional airlines for providing air connectivity to smaller cities. The proposals under consideration include exempting regional operators from night landing charges, terminal navigational landing charges (TNLC) and route navigation facility charges (RNFC).
Smaller aircraft already enjoy exemption from landing charges. As per the existing guidelines aircraft with a take-off mass of less than 40,000 kg are not required to pay landing charges.
“Regional airlines operating with smaller aircraft with the take-off mass less than 40,000 kg may be exempted from paying night landing charges once the non-metro airports are equipped with night landing facilities. At a later stage, they may not be required to pay RNFC and TNLC too,” a civil aviation ministry official told ET. Regional airlines operating with comparatively bigger aircraft would, however, be charged for all the services provided by the airport operator and the air traffic controllers (ATCs).
Three airlines — Air Dravida, Star Aviation and Emric Air — are in the queue to take off as regional airlines in the south India. Others such as Bird group and Megha Airways are also readying their plans to fly as regional airlines.
13/09/07 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: General Aviation Sep 2007, Regional Airlines Sep 2007