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Indian regional airlines have finally got a seat at the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s airline advisory group. The newly formed airline advisory group has at least six national airlines but does not have any representation from regional airlines until now.
According to a note from Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, MoCA, at least one CEO of a regional airline will be part of the group on a rotational basis. A copy of the letter was reviewed by BusinessLine.
Earlier this month, the CEOs of at least four regional airlines had requested MoCA to be included in the group.
Simaran Singh Tiwana, CEO, StarAir, Ghodawat Enterprises Pvt. Ltd will be the first representative for the regional airlines.
The letter further added that “As the (regional) airlines were more in numbers, the nomination could be done on a rotation basis. Whenever there is a change of representative, the Department of Transport (DT) section would intimate the Director General (DG) Section for replacing the nominee.”
CEOs of other regional airlines including StarAir, TruJet, Air Taxi, and IndiaOne Air will be nominated to the group on a rotational basis.
The group was announced in July to discuss and find solutions to the longstanding issues impacting the aviation sector. It will be led by the recently appointed Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The group will also include junior Aviation Minister V.K. Singh, Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief Arun Kumar.
Representing the larger airlines will be Air India Chairman and Managing Director Rajiv Bansal, IndiGo promoter Rahul Bhatia, SpiceJet Chairman and MD Ajay Singh, GoAir Director Ness Wadia, Vistara Chairman Bhaskar Bhatt, and AirAsia India CEO Sunil Bhaskaran.
Besides the airlines advisory group, the MoCA will also have an airports advisory group and an MRO advisory group.
While the government has been trying multiple schemes like the regional connectivity scheme to boost regional air travel, it is not sufficient for the regional airlines to stay afloat and the Covid-19 pandemic was a fresh blow.
BusinessLine had recently reported that in the past three decades, at least 40 regional airlines were launched but only a few managed to stay afloat-making Indian runways a graveyard of airlines.
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