The civil aviation ministry has mooted a carbon credit-like system which will allow airlines to trade seat capacity as a part of its plan to promote regional routes.
“It is an idea. We are discussing it with airlines. If we mandate an airline to fly to the Northeast and it is unable to operate, it would be able to trade seats under this policy. It will be akin to carbon credits,” Minister for Civil Aviation Ajit Singh said while speaking at the Routes Asia conference in Mumbai yesterday.
This carbon credit system is expected to generate greater financial viability for regional operators.
“Instead of scheduled carriers flying half empty A-320 and B-737 aircrafts to small airports to comply with their obligations under Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDG), the same can be done by smaller aircrafts operated by regional air taxi operators. The regional operators would operate on high seat factors and provide greater frequency of service to smaller locations,” explained Amber Dubey, Partner and Head-Aviation at global consultancy KPMG.
Each available seat-km (ASKM) operated by regional operators can be given one ‘credit’. The credits can then be auctioned off to a national carrier that is ready to pay the highest. This value of the seat credit would be market determined and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) can play an observer’s role.
19/03/13 Aneesh Phadnis & Disha Kanwar/Business Standard
