Now, Will Everyone Fly?

History has never been kind to regional carriers in India. Many have started only to flounder and vanish in a few months. This time around, with the government’s UDAN initiative and the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), will the going be different for regional carrier operators? Will the MoU between the Ministry of Civil Aviation and states for implementation of the scheme ensure connectivity of the 16 under-served airports and later the 394 un-served ones? Cruising Heights takes a close look.

 

Union Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey is cautiously optimistic that UDAN will indeed fly! What he means is that the government’s much touted regional connectivity scheme now christened Udey Desh ka Aam Nagarik will not end the way of sundry other regional connectivity schemes that have come acropper in the past 36 years.

 

The first of these many attempts was Vayudoot that was launched in August 1980 to provide connectivity to the North Eastern states. The entire project was underwritten by the Central Government. And at that point in time there were no private carriers and, therefore, no route dispersal guidelines to fret about. Everything emanated from the sarkaar so to speak.

There were no market compulsions to cater to, there was no price point pressure and there were really no shareholders to satisfy. Yet Vayudoot sputtered and tottered till it was finally merged with Indian Airlines, crippling the then country’s domestic national carrier with four-figure losses and a gargantuan staff that still continues to be on the rolls.

That was the first attempt at regional connectivity. Post-1992 when the Open Skies Policy was first enunciated and slowly led to the liberalisation of the Indian aviation sector, it also led to the creation of the route dispersal guidelines and insistence that airlines do some sectors in the North East to accrue points making them eligible for other goodies including meaty slots at the metros and overseas rights.

While every airline did its quota, they never made money. The routes never matured and by and large it has sputtered along as a national objective without any rationale. Even now there is no clear-cut assessment why every scheme to bring aviation to the region has come a-cropper.