RCS gets unanimous support of all stakeholders: Govt

The proposed Regional Connectivity Scheme, which aims to facilitate and stimulate provide air services to unserved and underserved areas of the country by making it affordable, has received "unanimous support" from all stakeholders, the government said today.
It is in pursuance of the government's objective of taking development and infrastructural facilities to the common man in all parts of the country, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha told reporters at a national-level meet with stakeholders on the scheme here.
He said the demand for connecting small cities with the metros was there, which will enhance the air traffic, which is already growing over 20 per cent since almost last two years.

Apart from Sinha, Civil Aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, ministers and officials from 26 state and three Union Territories attended the meet along with officials from various airlines, airports and charter plane operators.
Addressing the media, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey said, "Almost everybody has unanimously supported the broad contours of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS). There have been suggestions with regard to further improvement in the scheme.
He said the Civil Aviation Ministry had come with an open mind and will try to address the concerns of the various stakeholders.

He said he was hopeful that the RCS is likely to take a final shape by mid August.

Choubey said, during the discussions, some state governments had sought changes in the upper and lower limits of RCS routes while some smaller airlines wanted the government to reduce the amount of bank guarantee.
Under the draft RCS, only those routes which cover a distance of 200-km to 800-km to connect an unserved or underserved airport will qualify for operations and the airfare ceiling will be proportional to the air distance travelled.
Similarly, the airlines which plan to fly on regional routes will have to give a bank guarantee of Rs 50 lakh per route to the government and to get exclusive rights to fly on those routes.

Terming the discussions with stakeholders as "fruitful," Choubey said once draft document was converted into the final scheme, the government will be invite applications from the entrepreneur as well as airline operators to make it operational.
"Since it is a draft scheme, we are open to any suggestion," Choubey added.
"We hope to have the final contours of the scheme ready for rolling out by the middle of next month," Choubey said, adding that a final decision on how the funds for providing subsidy for flights operating under the RCS scheme will be finalised by next week.