Civil Aviation Ministry seeks flexibility in RCS to promote intra- regional connectivity
Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju has announced that his ministry would soon be launching the second round of bidding under RCS-UDAN. The minister informed that airline operators have shown keen interest in undertaking operations under the scheme and on the basis of the experience of the first round of bidding, the ministry wanted to make the process more simpler and attractive. A stakeholders’ consultation meeting will also be organised on June 7, 2017 to discuss the proposed amendments and key aspects of the scheme for the second round of bidding. Following this, the stakeholders will be expected to submit their inputs and observations by June 9, 2017.
The secretary for civil aviation, R N Choubey highlighted the six aspects of the scheme for which suggestions have been invited from stakeholders.
- Aspect 1 proposes to consider routes between two airports which are neither under-served nor un-served. This is being proposed to further encourage intra-regional connectivity
- Aspect 2 deals with whether fixed wing aircrafts should be allowed to operate below 150 km for specific areas/regions
- Under Aspect 3, the exclusivity clause is sought to be made more flexible depending upon operators and certain rules
- Under Aspect 4, the ministry has sought suggestions with regard to minimum number of RCS seats. Also whether the minimum number and maximum number of RCS seats could be stretched over a period of a week instead of a particular flight. Opinions have also been sought whether seasonal flights should be permitted under RCS
- Aspect 5 asked stakeholders to see whether non-RCS routes should be included as part of the network proposal
- Aspect 6 seeked suggestions from stakeholders to incentivised helicopter operations under RCS
