New Delhi: The ministry of civil aviation has readied a draft policy under which commercially unviable routes from 80 Tier-III towns and cities will be offered in auction to airlines that will have the monopoly to ply to these for two to three years.
The idea is that an airline which bids for the least subsidy from the government to run services on the route would get it. There will be just one such slot on each route.
The process is akin to what the department of telecommunications has undertaken to encourage private telecom companies to launch services in rural India, by auctioning areas (circles) to the bidder offering to take the least subsidy from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (money for which is raised from telcos at a percentage of their revenue).
A top ministry official said the draft note was expected to be announced by the end of this month. The Cabinet should be subsequently clearing it. As part of the government’s effort to develop regional air routes, as many as 40 towns which include Asansol (West Bengal), Muzzaffarpur (Bihar), Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) and Jalgaon (Maharashtra) have been identified for the first phase.
11/02/13 Disha Kanwar/Business Standard
