Air passengers will soon have more airlines to choose from to fly from one city to another in the southern states. Two regional airlines —Air Dravida and Star Aviation —are all set to start their services out of Chennai. Air Dravida has announced that it will start service using 50-seater Bombardier CRJ 200 aircraft from August 2008. The airline, which will be a fullservice carrier, plans to connect Chennai to Madurai, Coimbatore, Thoothukudi, Tiruchi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Air Dravida had decided to go for 50-seater aircraft to offset the possibility of losses and also to prevent flights going empty. They have approval to import five Canadian Regional Jets of CRJ-200 type manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace. The maiden fleet of the airline will consist of three CRJ-200 and will be expanded to five aircraft in three months from the launch. The airline is focusing on convenient schedules and faster connectivity as its selling points. Star Aviation has also received approval to purchase aircraft and start services out of Chennai. However, it is yet to announce the date of commencement of operation.Come 2009, the seven sister states in the Northeast will come closer with greater air connectivity. The North Eastern Council has set in motion a process to run a commercial airline between the landlocked states of the region. A global tender for the proposed airline, floated in May, will close on June 30.NEC adviser (T&C) M S Sodhi said the North-Eastern Council would give subsidy to make the commercial air service economically viable.At least a dozen more airports would be constructed in the region during the 11th Five-Year Plan in addition to the existing 11 airports.Also detailed project reports to revive the non- functional airports like Rupsi, Kamalpur, Passighat and Tezu were being prepared by the Airports Authority of India.
NEC intends to launch the air line service by January 1 next year.
The basic objective of the airline would be to provide air connectivity to all the state capitals in the Northeast as well as other airports in the region including Bagdogra in north Bengal.
Further, it has plans to provide a schedule with a minimum frequency which allows for travel from one destination to another as well as to utilize the existing airline schedules to provide connectivity on trunk routes
The aircraft to be inducted in the new airline would be Jet or turboprop ones with short take-off and landing capability.The carriers must have a minimum start-up capital of Rs 30 crore and operate at least four aircraft with a take-off mass of over 40 tonnes.
This has been a long-standing demand of all the seven state governments in the region, with Nagaland already buying helicopters for commercial service linking remote districts.
The proposed airline is expected to operate 400 flights every month connecting the region internally by the end of 2009.
The government is also considering a proposal to relax norms to allow airlines flying in the Northeast to connect international destinations from Guwahati airport.
According to Airports Authority of India officials, the absence of night landing or instrument-guided landing facilities in most of the Northeast airports, it was difficult for commercial flights to land after 4 pm.
Eight airports are likely to get night landing facilities.A detailed project report is being prepared to set up a new airport in Sikkim at an estimated cost of Rs 340 crore. Sikkim government will pay about Rs 100 crore and provide land at Pakyong. At present Sikkim depends on Bagdogra airport near Siliguri.
The AAI has also selected sites at Banderva near Itanagar and Chiethu near Kohima for new airports in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland respectively. Construction of these airports is likely to be taken up during the 11th Five-Year Plan.
Airlines might be permitted to provide connections out of Guwahati to countries in Southeast Asia. Besides improving connectivity, this could also contribute to the viability of airline operations in the Northeast.
The Centre also plans to study how to link some of the tourist destinations in the Northeast like Tawang, Kaziranga and Majuli island by air.
NEC intends to launch the air line service by January 1 next year.
The basic objective of the airline would be to provide air connectivity to all the state capitals in the Northeast as well as other airports in the region including Bagdogra in north Bengal.
Further, it has plans to provide a schedule with a minimum frequency which allows for travel from one destination to another as well as to utilize the existing airline schedules to provide connectivity on trunk routes
The aircraft to be inducted in the new airline would be Jet or turboprop ones with short take-off and landing capability.The carriers must have a minimum start-up capital of Rs 30 crore and operate at least four aircraft with a take-off mass of over 40 tonnes.
This has been a long-standing demand of all the seven state governments in the region, with Nagaland already buying helicopters for commercial service linking remote districts.
The proposed airline is expected to operate 400 flights every month connecting the region internally by the end of 2009.
The government is also considering a proposal to relax norms to allow airlines flying in the Northeast to connect international destinations from Guwahati airport.
According to Airports Authority of India officials, the absence of night landing or instrument-guided landing facilities in most of the Northeast airports, it was difficult for commercial flights to land after 4 pm.
Eight airports are likely to get night landing facilities.A detailed project report is being prepared to set up a new airport in Sikkim at an estimated cost of Rs 340 crore. Sikkim government will pay about Rs 100 crore and provide land at Pakyong. At present Sikkim depends on Bagdogra airport near Siliguri.
The AAI has also selected sites at Banderva near Itanagar and Chiethu near Kohima for new airports in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland respectively. Construction of these airports is likely to be taken up during the 11th Five-Year Plan.
Airlines might be permitted to provide connections out of Guwahati to countries in Southeast Asia. Besides improving connectivity, this could also contribute to the viability of airline operations in the Northeast.
The Centre also plans to study how to link some of the tourist destinations in the Northeast like Tawang, Kaziranga and Majuli island by air.
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