SHILLONG: Is the wait for a Shillong-Delhi direct flight going to be over soon? May be the long wait of the air passengers of Meghalaya will end, if some of the impending official actions do not come under red tapism.
At least one eager private airline is hoping that it would be able to ferry air passengers both ways.
Delhi based Zoom Air is a willing party even as Meghalaya Government has approved in principle to provide viability gap funding (VGF) to the airline.
Not just Zoom Air, three prospective bidders have shown interest in operating on the route, sources said.
A meeting was held in December last as per directions of the High Court to discuss the proposal submitted by M/s Zoom Air Services Private Limited (Zoom Air) expressing its desire to operate on this virgin route which is technically feasible to operate Delhi- Shillong (non-stop) and Shillong-Delhi (via Kolkata technical stop only) as there would be a load restriction while taking off from Umroi and thus the aircraft would need technical refuelling at Kolkata.
As Delhi-Shillong route is not eligible under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) by the Centre, the Meghalaya Government was requested to examine the proposal submitted by Zoom Air and convey its views to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Zoom Air.
Later, on February 5, a second meeting was held under the chairmanship of Secretary, Civil Aviation with DGCA, AAI, Government of Meghalaya and Zoom Air to examine the proposal submitted by the Zoom Air.
It was agreed in principle to provide VGF to airlines in order to provide direct air connectivity for Delhi-Shillong and vice versa sectors and necessary bids would be floated shortly by the state government and airlines will be invited to submit their bids.
It was also decided that Ministry of Civil Aviation and RCS cell of AAI would assist Meghalaya Government, if required for conducting transparent bidding through Central Procurement portal in order to bid pre-defined routes of Delhi-Shillong-Delhi.
Sources also said that Zoom Air may use 68-seater Bombardier CRJ100/200 (formerly known as the Canadair CRJ100/J200) aircraft.
The Zoom Air carrier was dormant since July 2018 after its AOC had been suspended due to operational and safety concerns. The DGCA renewed the license at the end of December 2018. Prior to its grounding, Zoom Air deployed four CRJ200 on the government-co-funded UDAN flights mostly in the North East. It is understood that the airline plans to remain focused on the same area after the restart.
It may be mentioned that the Meghalaya Government on February 7 this year had floated tender for the Umroi-Delhi flight and the government had targeted that the services are expected to begin by March this year.
The last date and time for submission of bids was February 24 but Meghalaya Government issued a notice on February 22 informing that the last date for submission of tender has been extended to March 2.
“It was the decision of the tender committee and in the pre-bid meeting, there were few queries from the prospective bidders and after examination, it took us some time but by March 2, everything will be settled,” an official source said.
As of now, the three prospective bidders who have shown their interest in the operation are Zoom Air, India Fly Safe Aviation and Fly Big
At present, the only connecting flight to metro cities is operated by IndiGo from Umroi Airport to Kolkata. The services were started in July last year and so far it has been running smoothly. This has eased the travel for many business people, tourists and students traveling to and from Kolkata.