Sops for regional air connectivity

The civil aviation ministry is offering sops, including concessions in night parking charges and priority in allocation of slots in key cities to airlines operating in Tier-II and III cities.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation K C Venugopal informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday a about slew of measures to encourage air connectivity. About 60 per cent of domestic air traffic in India is handled by Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

"Night parking charges have been kept at 50 per cent of the existing charges at all airports, except Chennai and Kolkata. Night parking charges have been waived at airports in states which levy five per cent or less value added tax on aviation fuel. Also, if an airline plans a new flight between a Tier-I and Tier-II or III city or between Tier-II and III cities, it will be given priority over other airlines for allocation of slots," Venugopal stated.

SpiceJet connects towns in South and Central India from its Hyderabad hub. The airline flies 15 Bombarider Q400 planes. It also set up a base in Delhi to connect towns in North India.

Air Costa, which placed an order for 50 Embraer jets today, is currently flies between Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Vijayawada. It plans to add services to Pune, Vizag, Goa, Madurai, Mysore and Thiruvananthapuram in a phased manner,” he said, adding it would be having pan-India operations by 2015 with 14 routes and reach 25 destinations in three years from then.