Govt to review guidelines to promote flights to Northeast, Jammu

The Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region (DONER) and the North Eastern Council (NEC) have been urging the Civil Aviation Ministry to review the route dispersal guidelines (RDGs) as air connectivity has remained neglected in these far-flung areas inspite of the guidelines.

According to the guidelines, domestic airlines are required to fly at least 10 per cent of their deployed capacity on metro routes to the North East, Jammu and the islands.

Sources in the Civil Aviation Ministry say several meetings were held in the past few days to discuss the issue threadbare and the Prime Minister's Office had also held a meeting on the same.

Following these meetings, it has been decided that the RDGs would be reviewed and steps introduced to incentivise airlines, instead of penalising them, to operate in these socially-important but financially-unviable routes, they said.

Despite steps taken by the Civil Aviation Ministry, "the issue of intra-NER (Northeastern Region) connectivity and operation of terrain-friendly small aircraft for airports within the region has evaded a solution so far," officials in DONER said seeking modifications in the RDGs to meet the needs of the region.

The RDG guidelines further say that of the 10 per cent of the total deployed capacity on major routes a further 10 per cent should be exclusively for flights within the neglected regions.

DONER officials, however, feel as the rules leave it open for the airlines to operate anywhere in these regions "with the result that operators are reluctant to operate in the Northeastern region" despite the large area and population.

They have also objected to the inclusion of Bagdogra airport in Category-II--that includes North East, Jammu, and the islands--even though it is in West Bengal.

The officials, who have carried out their own survey, point out that airlines, by operating flights to Bagdogra and Guwahati, claim they are operating in the Northeast, with the result that they have no flights within the region itself.

They also feel that routes like Guwahati-Delhi or Guwahati-Kolkata that were commercially viable, should not be included in the Category-II. Emphasis should be given on intra-Northeastern connectivity instead, they said.