It is heartening that the plan to connect two-tier and three-tier towns to metros, by flights, announced by the Central government in October last is ready to take off. The scheme named ‘Udan’ which is an acronym for Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (may the common man be able to fly) would provide the much-needed last mile air connectivity that would meaningfully integrate these towns to a new way of life which would be more modern and contemporary. With the Civil Aviation Ministry handing over licences to five operators who won the bid to operate on regional routes the stage is set for the Bhatinda to Shimla sector to start operating soon followed by Kandla to Porbandar in Gujarat, Porbander to Salem (Tamil Nadu) and Bidar to Hosur in Karnataka in due course followed by other routes.With disposable incomes on the rise, the aviation market in India has been soaring – in 2016, the sector saw a whopping 26 per cent growth in passenger traffic. It is to cash in on this demand that the Ministry decided to implement a long-pending recommendation of connecting regional tier 2 and 3 cities.
Five airlines – Alliance Air, Air Odisha, TruJet, Spicejet, Air Deccan – will be a part of the regional connectivity model which is based on ‘viability gap funding’. Under this, 80 per cent of the cost will be borne by the state government and the rest by the Centre. The Centre as of now has allotted Rs 205 crore to start the process. Unutilised and under-utilised airports in the country will benefit from this facility which will foster regional connectivity, making businesses and trade more efficient, enable medical services and promote tourism. To make operating to small cities lucrative, there would be a judicious mix of subsidies and fare caps. The money for the subsidy would be raised through a levy on flights operating on major routes like Delhi and Mumbai. The fare for a one-hour journey of about 500 km on a fixed-wing aircraft or a 30-minute journey on a helicopter is capped at Rs 2,500, with proportionate pricing for routes of different lengths and duration. All this is not to say that there would be no challenges along the way. The airlines will indeed have to induct smaller aircraft for short take-offs and landings. The kind of crew that such aircraft would require would be of a specialised nature who would need to be trained appropriately. Merely announcing such flights is not enough. The follow-up action that is required is crucial. The success or failure of the measure would depend on this.
