The Draft National Civil Aviation Policy contains some much-needed impetus for the growth of commuter airlines in India. These are typically airlines with fleets of turboprop aircraft seating fewer than a hundred passengers – sometimes less than ten – to profitably serve routes that do not generate sufficient demand to fill larger, narrow-body jets such as the Airbus A320 or Boeing 737.

Consider the case of a tier-2 and tier-3 city pair in Tamil Nadu, say Coimbatore and Tuticorin. Flight services currently do not exist between these two cities partly because of reliable and frequent bus and train links. At the same time, the route might not have over a hundred passengers every day to fill a narrow-body jet. Commuter aircraft, on the other hand, may only need a dozen passengers to sustain operations. The draft policy suggests creating those dozen or more passengers – or poach road or rail transport passengers – by keeping commuter airline fares affordable.

The draft directs state governments and airports to extend concessions for the SCA (scheduled commuter airline) operations to achieve such fares. To keep such services going in the long run, the central government would cover part of the operational expenditure through a fund. This fund is to be created from the proposed two per cent extra charged per ticket on trunk routes – routes linking the country’s top tier cities – and international flights. The draft, however, leaves untouched some aspects of the framework that might upset a few of the stakeholders. The Route Dispersal Guidelines ensure that the country’s tier-2 and tier-3 cities are connected by air. Under these rules, major airlines are directed to serve such destinations with a percentage of capacity deployed on trunk routes.

Competition hurts This presents a problem for commuter airlines, subjecting them to competition from larger airlines. Such competition would result in an inefficient allocation of resources – capacity and public finances – when instead, leveraging regional commuter networks could work in favour of major airlines.

The Route Dispersal Guidelines are key to retaining connectivity to unviable destinations beyond the range of commuter aircrafts. But with public finances backing a nascent commuter airline industry in the country, should these guidelines be restricted to connecting the North-East and the islands?

The draft policy incorporates tested solutions from the European Union’s Public Service Obligations and the American Essential Air Services program that have been successful in enhancing regional connectivity for a few decades now. In Europe and the US, commuter airlines bring in people from smaller towns and urban catchments to hub airports, serving as feeders to major airlines. They could achieve the same here in India: students from smaller towns travelling abroad for higher education could fly from their towns, seamlessly connected to their international flights at the nearest major airport. People could return to their hometowns more often from the cities they live in.

To achieve this, the national civil aviation policy needs to ensure that the commuter airlines and the established carriers don’t step on each other’s toes.  

The writer graduated from the University of Birmingham where his thesis examined the civil aviation environment in India

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