DGCA eases norms to help regional carriers take off

A company looking to begin regional air services will need to reach a fleet size of three aircraft within two years instead of the earlier stipulated one year, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Tuesday.

Only by the end of five years would the carrier be required to operate five aircraft against the earlier deadline of two years, the aviation regulator said.

Strict norms on fleet size and other stringent conditions have stifled the growth of regional airlines in India so far. Though a comprehensive policy to promote regional airlines was devised in 2007, not a single such airline operates in the country.

Over the years, Star Aviation —- which wanted to begin services to smaller south Indian towns from Chennai —- didn’t get off the ground.

Former Meghalaya chief minister P Sangma’s airline Skyking received a no-objection certificate from the government, but its permit expired without it starting operations. Ditto for Jagson Airlines, which now operates only chopper services to select destinations.

Even state-owned Pawan Hans Helicopters’ permit for regional connectivity lapsed.

A host of regional cargo services such as Flyington Freighters, Avicore etc also lost their NOCs but could not begin operations.

The latest concessions from the DGCA suggest a realisation of the futility of imposing strict conditions and are expected to help small interested players launch regional airlines, if approved.

Among others, MDLR, the fledgling airline started by a Haryana-based politician, could not revive regional operations under the old norms last year, but may now turn the corner.

Luan Airways, another new entrant in the business, is preparing to launch operations from Guwahati and another 3-4 projects are also in the pipeline.

But will the relaxed norms boost air connectivity to smaller towns?
Despite several attempts, a response from civil aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi or the director general of civil aviation, EK Bharatbhushan, on the status of regional airlines could not be obtained.

Harshvardhan, chairman of Star Air Consulting, said the alterations would be welcome but a lot more needed to be done to promote the regional airline concept. “Regional operations are low-budget startups, unlike scheduled operators and the first aircraft itself takes time to stabilise. While fleet concessions are good, the government also needs to think about allowing connectivity of such operations to two metros.”

At present, a regional airline, by its very definition, connects small cities in a region to the major metro of that region. It does not operate outside the region and does not connect to more than one metro city.

The country has been divided into north, east, west, south and north east regions.

So if, say, an airline wants to connect Udaipur to Delhi and also to Mumbai, it has to choose only one metro. Similarly, if an airline wants to connect, say, Pune to Mumbai and to Delhi, again it has to choose which metro city will provide it more traffic.

Another issue is only day operations at regional airports, where take-offs and landings can happen only between dawn and dusk, leading to insufficient traffic, said an aviation consultant. “If night landings or twin-metro operations were allowed, idle hours could be used better.”

Meanwhile, low-fare scheduled airlines such as SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir have already made their regional intentions clear. Each of these airlines is adding to its existing fleet, keeping the regional traffic in mind.

All these developments make one thing clear: If all goes well, passengers in smaller towns and cities across India may soon have the option of air travel instead of having to depend on buses and trains to reach the nearest metro.