Govt invites bids on routes connecting Guwahati with four international cities under UDAN scheme

The Centre on Wednesday invited second round of bids from airline operators to run flight operations on routes connecting Guwahati with four international cities under the UDAN scheme, according to an official document.

Through the scheme, the Centre wants to facilitate and stimulate regional air connectivity by taking measures such as reduced airport charges, viability gap funding and making air travel affordable.

In a 'notice inviting proposal', the Airports Authority of India (AAI) stated that on behalf of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Assam government, it is inviting "interested bidders for submission of e-proposals for the International Air Connectivity (IAC) routes" between Guwahati and four cities of Yangon, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur and Kathmandu.

In November last year, the AAI had conducted the first round of bidding under the UDAN international scheme for operation of international routes connecting Guwahati to Dhaka, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon, Kathmandu, Singapore, and Bangkok.

The bids were received from airline operators on only two routes, Guwahati-Bangkok and Guwahati-Dhaka, and these routes were subsequently awarded. In the interim, flight operations began on Guwahati-Singapore route too.

As per the AAI document, on Guwahati-Kathmandu and Guwahati-Kuala Lumpur routes, a maximum subsidy of Rs 2,745 per passenger and Rs 7,445 per passenger, respectively, can be provided to the selected airline operator by the Assam government.

The difference between the cost of airline operations on a route and the expected revenues from that route is provided by the state government as subsidy the under UDAN scheme.

The AAI document on Wednesday stated that on the Guwahati-Yangon and Guwahati-Hanoi routes, the Assam government is ready to provide subsidy of up to Rs 4,831 per passenger and Rs 4,545 per passenger, respectively.