)
“There have been requests from various sections of the public to provide air connectivity to regional centres within the country, which are either inadequately connected or not connected at present,” a senior official at the ministry said.
“The minister has directed the possibility of removing distinctions between scheduled and non-scheduled operators be considered so that a large number of aircraft with NSOPs can be brought to productive utilisation,” he added.
The current policy permits NSOPs to fly to various destinations in the country but they cannot publish a schedule.
The government had in August prepared a draft policy for promoting regional and remote-area air connectivity but it did not made headway because of opposition from scheduled airlines.
The draft policy had envisioned inducting more aircraft to serve smaller cities and towns by bringing in planes used by NSOPs as charters. The draft policy had said NSOPs could publish schedules and pick up passengers regularly by taking a scheduled commuter permit. This permit would allow them to fly scheduled flights across the country but would bar them from having a hub or base in any of the six metro cities.
Scheduled commuter airlines were required to operate at least four flights a week on any one or more regional routes according to the draft guidelines. Scheduled commuter airlines could undertake any other operation provided they complied with their scheduled operations. Scheduled commuter airlines could operate in any area or region but only to or from any one metro airport
The draft guidelines would have allowed large scheduled carriers like IndiGo, Jet Airways and Go Air to purchase miles from the NSOPs and regional carriers to meet commitments under the route dispersal policy to deploy 6 per cent of their capacity on metro routes on 100 identified smaller cities and towns and also on routes within the state of Jammu and Kashmir between Srinagar, Jammu and Leh.
NSOPs with aircraft capable of flying 20 passengers or less would be given four credits per passenger kilometre flown, nearly three times more than the 1.5 credits that would be given to larger scheduled carriers bigger planes. NSOPs and regional carriers could trade these credits and the larger carriers could buy them to meet their commitments under the route dispersal guidelines.
Additionally, the draft guidelines proposed waiving landing, parking and route navigation and facilitation (RNFC) charges, passenger service fees (PSF), fuel throughput and any other charge levied by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at specific airports for a period of three years from the date of effect of the policy. Private and charter aircraft operators would not be able to avail of these concessions except when their aircraft were leased by national scheduled airlines or scheduled commuter airlines for carrying out scheduled operations.
However, the policy could not be finalised due to opposition from scheduled airlines which said they were cash-strapped and could not undertake the proposed obligations of connecting regional and remote areas. Raju has now again asked the civil aviation secretary to look into the issue of removing the distinction between scheduled and non-scheduled operators to enhance regional air connectivity.
