Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had said that it would lead to the emergence of Guwahati as the gateway to South East Asia.
New Delhi, October 15 (PTI) The Centre's Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), also known as Udan (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), has played a distinct role in fanning the country's double-digit air traffic growth. And now it is ready to help the "Aam Nagrik" dream about international flights, too. According to The Economic Times, the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has cleared an international air connectivity scheme that will connect Guwahati airport with seven neighbouring countries.
"The Airport Authority of India (AAI), on behalf of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Government of Assam, has invited bids for selection of airlines under the International Air Connectivity Scheme (IAC) Udan," Ravi Capoor, additional chief secretary (industries and commerce), told the daily. The bids could be submitted to the AAI by November 22, according to the notice inviting e-proposals from interested air operators.
The draft scheme "envisions increasing the international ticketing to 20 crore by 2027", according to the document put out by the ministry in August. As a first step, direct international flights will operate between Guwahati and Singapore, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Malaysia and Vietnam, giving a major boost to connectivity in the region.
As per the draft document, the scheme is to be made operational only for states which demonstrate their commitment to implement and provide the requisite support for promoting operations under the scheme. The Assam government was the first state to offer funds towards extending the Udan scheme international. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had proposed to provide Rs 100 crore as viability gap funding to this end at a meeting with captains of aviation industry in Delhi last December.
This latest development comes within nine months of the foundation stone being laid down for Guwahati's new integrated international terminal. Expected to be completed by 2021, the new terminal building will be spread across 90,000 sq mts and will boast world-class features, including 20 aircraft parking bays, 64 check-in counters, eight immigration counters, eight customs counters, six arrival carousels. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will reportedly invest Rs 1,232 crore in this project.
Speaking on the occasion, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had said that it would lead to the emergence of Guwahati as the gateway to South East Asia. "We have 800 million people in and around us in Southeast Asia. This is a great market," he had added.
In its bid to make flying more affordable for masses and boost regional connectivity, the Modi government had announced the Udan scheme in October 2016 with airfares capped at Rs 2,500 for a one-hour journey through subsidised ticket rates. In the subsequent developments, five airlines were mandated to fly on 128 regional routes in the first phase of the bidding in March 2017, and 15 airlines on 325 regional routes - including those having chopper operations - in the second phase launched in January.
However, the domestic format of the scheme has been lack-lustre with almost half of the routes approved in the first phase of the bidding yet to be launched. Perhaps IAC will have more success.
According to Capoor, in another significant development, Bangladesh's Cabinet has approved the draft of a proposed agreement with India. This will allow India to use Chittagong and Mongla sea ports for transporting goods to and from its north-eastern states.
(With PTI inputs; edited by Sushmita Choudhury Agarwal)
