Regional airlines fly into infra, policy air pockets

New Delhi/Mumbai: Close to six months after the government announced its regional airline policy, carriers are suddenly waking up to serious infrastructure constraints and competitive pressures that, they say, will impact their viability.
Regional airlines that have received approval include MDLR, Jagson Airlines, Star Aviation and Zav Air. Others like Mega Airways and Premier Airlines are still awaiting approval.
Regional airlines are, however, allowed to operate flights only to or from one city (except in the south, where they can operate between Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore).
Infrastructure constraints are already hampering the operations of those that have begun.
"Most of the airports do not even have a proper runway, neither in strength nor in length and cannot support an aircraft of even 40,000 kg," said Koustav M Dhar, executive director, marketing and planning, MDLR Airlines, which has started operations.
He added that most of these small airports are defence airports doubling up for civilian duty so flight timings are restricted to between sunrise and sunset. These timings clash with the peak time in the bigger cities when smaller aircraft are not allowed.
The other serious problem is congestion in the larger airports. Most are reluctant to permit extra flights, even from regional carriers. This leaves these airlines with little option but to operate between the smaller cities.
22/02/08 Anirban Chowdhury & Manisha Singhal/Business Standard

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Feb 2008, Regional Airlines Feb 2008