Flying could soon become the preferred mode of travel for people in small towns and cities throughout the country with more airlines coming in.
Air Dravida, Star Aviation, Trans India and MDLR
NEW DELHI: Flying could soon become the preferred mode of travel for people in small towns and cities throughout the country, with the government expected to give its approval for four regional airlines soon.
According to sources, three operators would be given licences for the southern region - Air Dravida, Star Aviation and Trans India - while MDLR Airlines would be the sole northern region player, to begin with.
Of the 10 applications received for starting regional airline operations, only these four proposals have been cleared.
According to rules framed recently by the civil aviation ministry, regional airlines can use small planes, typically turboprops or small passenger jets, to avail of the waiver in landing/ parking charges at airports and cheaper aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
Such airlines can operate from one metro airport in each region, except in the South, where they have been allowed to fly between Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. These airlines would operate small planes, seating 50-100 passengers.
But, this is not to say that tickets would be any cheaper.
Ramachandran Iyer, executive director for Air Dravida, says his airline would be a full-fare one. “We will offer a convenient schedule, flying short haul with increased frequency, but Air Dravida will not be a low-cost carrier.
We plan to initially lease three Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft and begin operations to connect Chennai to various smaller cities in the South. Within three months, we would be adding another two aircraft to our fleet.”
Air Dravida plans to connect Madurai, Coimbatore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Bangalore and Hyderabad with Chennai. It would also fly between Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Unlike Air Dravida, though, Star Aviation and Trans India are still firming up their plans. Ashok Bhushan of Star Aviation said his company had not decided on the routes yet, but planned to get five 70-seater aircraft, whether on lease or through purchase.
Trans India’s Bijoy Mechery said the company was still looking for funding ($30-100 million) and operations were expected to begin only late next year.
But, both Bhushan and Mechery said their operations would be value-for-money and not necessarily low-cost.
Harshvardhan, a director with MDLR Airlines, said his company was looking to convert its existing non-scheduled carrier licence into that of a regional airline to avail of the parking fee waiver and lower fuel costs.
“We plan to connect cities such as Dharamshala, Dehradun, Chandigarh, Ranchi, Jaipur and Jodhpur with Delhi after the necessary approvals are received,” he said.
Not to be left behind, state-owned Air India has recently re-branded its regional service as Air India Regional, which uses small aircraft to connect small towns and cities.
Current routes include Delhi-Kanpur, Delhi-Kullu and Delhi-Allahabad, while an indicative list of 16 city pairs on which small, 60-70 seaters could be used has been drawn up by Accenture, the consultants hired to draw up a road map for the merger of Air India and Indian.
The aircraft would operate in a single-class configuration and some basic food service would be provided, keeping in mind the short duration of the flights.
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