Regional air connectivity set to takeoff with Rs 1.15-cr fund in kitty

The government has garnered more than Rs 1.15 crore towards the fund for regional air connectivity scheme, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said on Thursday.

The ambitious Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports as well as make flying more affordable. It has also set up the RCS fund which would be utilised for providing viability gap funding to airlines participating in the scheme.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Raju said that "till date, an amount of Rs 1,15,42,000 has been received" under the RCS fund.

An amount of up to Rs 8,500 is being levied from scheduled airlines operating in major routes to raise money towards the RCS fund.

The Civil Aviation Ministry started collecting the levy from December 1, 2016.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) has already challenged the collection of levy from carriers for the RCS fund in the court.

FIA has filed a court case on this issue and the matter is subjudice, the minister said.

Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir are members of the FIA.

Airlines participating in the regional connectivity scheme, also known as UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik), would receive viability gap funding. The funding would be shared by the Centre and the respective state governments that provide the airport for flights under the scheme.