Wings 2017 to aid in identification of new Udan routes

The government on Friday held the first edition of "WINGS 2017" for expanding its regional connectivity scheme RCS-UDAN and said that the event will help in identification of new routes.

"All major airlines, NSOP, airport operators, cargo, tour operators and other ecosystem players participated in the event and were benefited from one-to-one government to business (G2B) interactions and explored various business possibilities," an official statement on the event said.

"Some notable outcomes expected from the forum are identification, marketing of new routes, destination and most importantly making flying accessible to the citizens across the country."

The event was organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) here.

According to the statement, the "closed room discussion" during the forum broadly entailed incentives to the airlines operators such as underwriting of seats, reducing the tax on ATF (air turbine fuel) and additional VGF (viability gap funding) among others.

"WINGS 2017 drew in 338 delegates from government and civil aviation sector. The event envisaged participation from 28 states and union territories of India," the statement added.

After the event, SpiceJet's Chairman and MD Ajay Singh told BTVi: "SpiceJet is keen on round two of UDAN."

Singh added that airlines required cheaper ATF.

--IANS

rv/vt