The second round of bidding for routes under the government's regional air connectivity scheme (RCS) is likely to start mid-August, a civil aviation ministry official today said.
The first round of bidding took place in March when five airline operators were awarded 28 routes.
The RCS, also known as UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), aims at making flying affordable for the masses with fares capped at Rs 2,500 per hour of flight and connecting tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
An airline, operating on the RCS route, has to offer 50 per cent of its seats at discounted rates for which the government provides a subsidy or viability gap funding (VGF).
Bidders who quote the lowest VGF are awarded the routes.
"The window for second round of bidding will open in mid-August. Airlines will make initial bids, which will be followed by counter-bids," the official told reporters.
The government is also likely to relax the rules for bidding in second phase to permit more frequency of flights to unserved and underserved airports as well as revise minimum distance between two airports which can be connected under the scheme.
At present, an airline operator can bid for a maximum of seven flights on a route. However, this upper limit can be revised to provide more flights for the passengers.
As per specifications for the first round of bidding, the distance between two airports was required to be not less than 150 km for operations through fixed-wing aircraft, which could be revised.
This is likely to enhance connectivity to regions categorised as "high priority areas" such as hilly areas and islands.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
