SHILLONG: The High Court of Meghalaya continued the hearing on Wednesday regarding regular flights from Umroi to Delhi while the airlines are yet to be ready for the operations.
The Airports Authority of India and the Civil Aviation Ministry filed two affidavits revealing that a meeting was held with stakeholders and concerns were raised over the commercial viability of operating ATR 72.
Zoom Air has not participated in the meeting but conveyed by email that it operates CRJ 200, which has a weight penalty when landing in and taking off from Shillong.
It had bid for Kolkata-Shillong-Kolkata Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) sector with an aim to integrate this into their existing network. However, the route was not awarded to Zoom Air and operating in Shillong without RCS support “is not commercially viable for Zoom Air in view of the load penalty”.
In the affidavit, it has been stated that the chairperson during the meeting had requested the airlines to explore the possibility of operating flights from Delhi to Shillong and back based on their technical and financial viability.
A submission was made in the court that Zoom Air may agree to operate provided it is given Kolkata-Shillong-Kolkata RCS sector, which will help them in meeting the extra expenses in operating directly from Delhi to Umroi airports.
The counsels appearing for SpiceJet, Indigo as well as Air India made it clear that as on date, there is no plan to operate their flights to Umroi because of commercial difficulties.
However, they have not closed their doors as they are still thinking over it, said the division bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir and Justice H S Thangkhiew.
The court observed that since Zoom Air operates CRJ 200, the Airports Authority and the ministry can work out modalities and one week’s time was granted for doing the needful.
The court issued fresh notice to the Zoom Airliners for its response regarding operation of CRJ 200 from Delhi to Umroi and back.
The matter will be taken up again on April 10.
