NEW DELHI: The landlocked North East and the cluster of islands will benefit from the regional connectivity scheme during its second round of bidding next month, Civil Aviation Secretary RN Choubey said on Thursday.
There will be a waiver on the 150-km criterion and seating regulations for the aircraft landing at Advanced Landing Grounds, Choubey said here on the sidelines of a conference on air connectivity in NE organised by Air Passengers Association of India (APAI). One of the criteria to avail of the RCS concessions is that the distance between two airports will have to be 150 km.
The stipulation of plying at least nine-seater aircraft or helicopter would also be waived off for these two regions since there are many airstrips and ALGs, particularly in places like Arunachal Pradesh, where only four-seaters can land.
“These will take care of some of the problems being faced by the airline and helicopter operators desirous of connecting remote areas,” he added.
“Taking both rounds together, the present government has put into public use 53 airports in the last three years, whereas our achievement so far has been 76 airports in 70 years. By any standards, this is a marvellous achievement. I do not know whether such success stories exist in the world,” he added.
Mentioning that the aviation sector in India is growing at over 20 per cent per year, perhaps the highest in the world, the secretary said the number of aircraft in the country was presently pegged at 395.
This figure will increase by 900 in the next five years or so going by the new orders placed by the Indian airline companies.
To a question as to what the future plans for the expansion of RCS are, Choubey said many airlines are coming forward to connect the unserved and underserved airports without the support of viability gap funding. They want only a conducive eco-system to operate and make profits.
In this regard, he said that for every seat under RCS, the government would have to shell out Rs 3,000 to make good the losses suffered by the airlines on account of the freezing of prices at Rs 2,500.
Earlier, while welcoming the delegates, Sudhakara Reddy, founder and national president of APAI, underscored the need for greater interface with air passengers.
“We lend our wholehearted support to the Civil Aviation Ministry and regulators to make the scheme a grand success and are willing to sit with all stakeholders in sorting out various vexatious issues that surface from time to time,” he added.
The conference, among others, was addressed by Prof KV Thomas, former Union Minister and former Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, Naveen Verma, DoNER Secretary, S Machiendranathan, Chairman, Airport Economic Regulatory Authority, and Krishan Varma, former special secretary to the Government of India, Cabinet Secretariat, besides representatives of global consulting companies, tourism and travel industry.
