Thursday, June 28, 2018

‘UDAN is transforming lives in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities’

New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister says the scheme has helped connect these cities sooner; had it been left to market forces alone, it would have taken years for this to happen
Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha speaks on the government’s passenger-friendly announcements, the challenges in implementing its regional connectivity scheme and the road ahead for Air India

The Ministry has proposed a slew of measures through the draft passenger charter such as free cancellation of tickets in the first 24 hours. Airlines are opposed to it and say that it will push up costs. Do you accept that rationale?

How the marketplace is going to play out, what will happen with competitive dynamics is very hard for anyone to predict.

Our sense is that this is a real pain point for our customers. Of course, passengers will have to pay a convenience fee and, therefore, they will think carefully before making a change.

We think this is not going to result in too much fluctuation and volatility and instead those who have a genuine need to do it only will do so.

While the government has been able to add several new airports through the regional connectivity scheme, or UDAN, what have been the roadblocks that have slowed down its implementation?

The scheme has been outstandingly good. Today, we have 32 unserved and underserved airports added to the domestic network. It is transforming lives in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Left to market forces alone, it would have taken years for this to happen … [but] we have been able to provide a set of incentives and connect these cities sooner.

The challenge for us is two fold — when we have airlines that start from scratch such as Air Odisha and Air Deccan they have to start from getting planes, putting the crew, getting all the certification and all these take time and that is why they have taken longer to start operations.

Then there are helicopter operations under UDAN-2 most of which were awarded to Pawan Hans, which has to get the helicopters and pilots and start the routes.
28/06/18 Jagriti Chandra/The Hindu

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