Air India’s regional arm Alliance Air has written to the Himachal Pradesh government seeking financial support to resume flight operations to Shimla after a gap of five years. The monetary aid will help the airline mitigate losses due to restriction on the payload or the number of passengers it can fly to and from the Himalayan capital because of the short runway and temperature, according to Alliance Air.
The airline, in its letter has proposed to operate daily flights on Delhi-Shimla-Delhi route from this summer and has written to the chief secretary of Himachal Pradesh government seeking an amount of INR 1,41,960 per return flight.
“The Shimla runway and temperature restricts the number of passengers onboard. We can fly only 35 passengers from Delhi to Shimla on our 48-seater ATR aircraft and 15 from Shimla to Delhi. In order to ensure that the airline doesn’t go red we have requested financial support,” said C S Subbiah, CEO, Alliance Air.
Shimla’s airport at Jubbarhatti, located at 2,196 metres above sea level, has been shut for scheduled flights since September 6, 2012 because of soil erosion leading to shrinking of the runway. Last week, Alliance Air conducted a test flight at the airport in the presence of DGCA officials and submitted its SOP on resumption of operations to the aviation regulator. The airline expects a clearance within a few days.
The demand for financial aid comes despite the fact the Alliance Air will be getting a viability gap funding for operating flights to Shimla under the government’s regional connectivity scheme – UDAN. “The physical problem of flying to Shimla isn’t calibrated into UDAN scheme and, therefore, we will need additional funds,” Subbiah said.
The airline estimates a total expenditure of INR 4.06 lakh per return flight. However, the revenue it will be able to generate will be a mere INR 2.64 lakh, including the viability gap funding from the Centre. Therefore, the airline has requested the state government for the balance amount of INR 141,960 per return flight.
(PTI)
