New Delhi: In an attempt to incentivise airline operators so that they
fly to cities and towns with poor or no air connectivity, the government
is planning to permit non-scheduled operators (NSOPs) to publish their
schedules and operate regular flights, provided they operate within the
87 identified small cities and towns. They have been allowed to operate
to any one metro city but they cannot have a base or hub there.
Under the current policy, NSOPs can fly to various destinations in the country but cannot publish a schedule.
The government has also decided to liberalise the policy for conversion of regional scheduled airlines, like Air Costa, to national scheduled airlines within a period of three years, provided they connect to regional and remote destinations.
The move will help get more aircraft into the network to serve smaller cities and towns by bringing in planes that are used by NSOPs as charters. Now they can also publish a schedule and pick up passengers on a regular basis by taking a scheduled commuter permit. This permit will allow them to fly scheduled flights across the country, though they cannot have a hub or base in any of the six metro cities.
The draft norms have made major changes to an earlier policy cleared by the United Progressive Alliance government. That policy had identified only 52 cities and towns and had no clause on converting NSOPs into scheduled commuter airlines. It also had not specified a formula for NSOPs and regional airlines that wanted to trade in credits for flying to these routes with larger scheduled airlines.
Read news in full 29/08/14 Sharmistha Mukherjee/Business Standard
Under the current policy, NSOPs can fly to various destinations in the country but cannot publish a schedule.
The government has also decided to liberalise the policy for conversion of regional scheduled airlines, like Air Costa, to national scheduled airlines within a period of three years, provided they connect to regional and remote destinations.
The move will help get more aircraft into the network to serve smaller cities and towns by bringing in planes that are used by NSOPs as charters. Now they can also publish a schedule and pick up passengers on a regular basis by taking a scheduled commuter permit. This permit will allow them to fly scheduled flights across the country, though they cannot have a hub or base in any of the six metro cities.
The draft norms have made major changes to an earlier policy cleared by the United Progressive Alliance government. That policy had identified only 52 cities and towns and had no clause on converting NSOPs into scheduled commuter airlines. It also had not specified a formula for NSOPs and regional airlines that wanted to trade in credits for flying to these routes with larger scheduled airlines.
Read news in full 29/08/14 Sharmistha Mukherjee/Business Standard
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