Pvt carriers may soon have to fly to more areas in Northeast

New Delhi: The government has decided to plug an existing loophole in the civil aviation guidelines that allows domestic airlines to report high compliance with the North-Eastern Region (NER) flying quota without undertaking actual flying into the region.
At present, an airline could end a flight in the commercially viable destination of Bagdogra, West Bengal, to meet the 10 per cent NER connectivity quota. However, airlines will soon have to make additional flights into the poorly connected region. In a recent meeting between the civil aviation ministry and development of Northeast region (DoNER) ministry, the two sides decided to remove Bagdogra from the list of destinations that airlines could fly to meet their NER connectivity quota.
“Private airlines have been taking advantage of this loophole and have avoided flying into NER. Now, the government has taken an in-principle decision to drop Bagdogra, until now considered part of the NER region, from the list of destinations for meeting the NER flying quota,” said a senior government official. The government will evaluate the technical feasibility before it notifies the decision.
Meanwhile, domestic airlines will be given some grace period to adjust their future flying schedules accordingly, the official added. “The move will considerably impact private airlines and will bring down their compliance from the current levels if Bagdogra is excluded,” said a senior airline official, on condition of anonymity.
25/01/10 Smita Aggarwal/Express India

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2010