The money would be provided through budgetary support as well as a cess on passengers flying on major metro routes, the sources said. If traffic grows on one of these routes, it would be re- auctioned without a subsidy after the lock-in period, they said. Small aircraft like turbo-prop ATR-72s would be used in these operations to small cities, which would not only get the benefit of a flat four per cent sales tax on jet fuel, but also minimal landing and parking charges, they said. The smaller airplanes would typically comprise 40, 60 or 80-seaters which would be able to operate from runways as small as 1,250 metres which could be later expanded to 2,000 metres for larger aircraft. The new policy is likely to replace the existing Route Dispersal Guidelines which mandate all Indian carriers to deploy one-tenth of their total capacity to 'socially important but financially inviable' routes in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir.
