Indian carriers revolt against regional air plans
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India’s main airlines have urged the government of reconsider a plan intended to improve connectivity to remote regional areas.
According to the proposals, airlines will be required to commit an equal amount of their capacity to regional routes as trunk routes. The number of trunk routes will be expanded however, from 12 to 30, but carriers will also be required to operate more regional flights to so-called “incentive destinations”.
But the Economic Times cited several carriers as raising strong objections to the proposals, saying they would threaten airlines’ already precarious financial stability.
GoAir was quoted saying that operating more regional routes “may not be commercially viable”, while SpiceJet said the plan would be “almost impossible to achieve”.
Jet Airways is reported to have requested that the allocation of regional capacity by reduced by half, while Vistara, the new joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata, argued that the regional ruling should only be applicable to airlines that have international flying rights.
India’s new government is pressing ahead with major plans to broaden air connectivity across the country. It recently identified the locations of the first batch of low-cost airports, which will be created to stimulate traffic to regional locations. Approximately 200 of these airports will eventually be created across India.
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