Deccan, Alliance Air, others to fly on regional routes

Private charter firms Deccan Charter and Air Odisha together have bagged around 50 regional air routes to propel the government’s ambitious regional connectivity scheme, Ude Desh Ka Aam

Nagrik (UDAN). The process of selection of the routes and the operators is nearly complete and the government is likely to make an announcement on this issue in the next few days, sources close to the development told PTI here.

Air India’s subsidiary Alliance Air, regional carrier TruJet’s holding company Turbo Megha Airways and budget airline SpiceJet are among other operators which have won the bids for the UDAN flights, said sources.

While the first RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme) flight is likely to be operated by Alliance Air to Bhatinda from the Indira Gandhi International Airport soon, full-scale operations are expected to commence from May, it has been said.

As many as 70 routes have been allocated to five operators for 43 airports, said sources.

The UDAN seeks to connect unserved and underserved airports and make flying more affordable. Ticket price is capped at ~2,500 for one-hour flights.

The Airports Authority of India is the implementing agency for the scheme. It received 43 initial proposals from 11 bidders for 43 airports which will offer RCS flights.

Of these, 31 are unserved airports and rest underserved.

According to sources, Air Odisha is likely to fly on at least 25 routes under the scheme, while Deccan Charter, owned by G R Gopinath, has bagged flights for not less than 21 routes.

While Alliance Air and SpiceJet will operate RCS flights on at least five routes each, Turbo Megha would fly on at least six routes.

At some airports, there would be two operators who will be flying on different routes, the sources added.