Subsidised air travel in Northeast

It is heartening to know that Rupsi airport in Assam's Kokrajhar district developed on a World War II era airstrip is now ready for commercial operations. The commercial operations from this airport under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) will cater to the requirement of air travellers in Western Assam districts of Kokrajhar, Dhubri, Goalpara, Bongaigaon and Chirang, Garo Hills in Meghalaya, Bhutan, and West Bengal. Four routes connecting Rupsi airport- Guwahati-Rupsi, Rupsi-Guwahati, Rupsi-Kolkata and Kolkata-Rupsi were included in the 78 new routes announced by the Ministry of Civil Aviation under the fourth round of RCS-UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) 4.0 launched in December 2019. The airport which is about 20 km off Dhubri town and 65-km off Kokrajhar town will provide direct connectivity to Guwahati and Kolkata. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has developed this airport with an estimated expenditure of Rs 69 crore and equipped the terminal with ten check-in counters to handle 200 passengers during peak hours. The newly built and recarpeted runway will allow operation of ATR-72 type aircraft.

The primary objective of RCS is to make regional air connectivity affordable. Concessions are provided by the Central and the State governments as well as airport operator to reduce the cost of airline operations on the regional routes and providing Viability Gap Funding (VGF), if any, between the cost of airline operations and expected revenue on such routes. The VGF is to be provided for a limited period so that connectivity is not dependent on it for infinite period. However, for priority areas like North-eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andaman and Nicobar island, and Lakshadweep islands, the VGF is to be provided for a longer period of time to support air transport to unserved or undeserved areas. The VGF is shared by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and states in the region in the ratio of 90:10. Incentives for cargo operations from RCS airports include concession in excise duty on Air Turbine Fuel drawn for air freighters at such airports, waiving of landing and parking charges, terminal navigation landing charges and levying of Route Navigation and Facilitation Charges at discounted rate of 42.50 per cent of normal rates. The VGF is not provided for cargo operations. Past experiences of UDAN in North-eastern states have a key lesson for all the stakeholders of the RCS that building airports and awarding the routes is not sufficient for affordable regional connectivity to take off in the region. Only seven out of 32 routes awarded for the region under RCS-UDAN 3.0 are functional. The airlines are required to commit around 50 per cent of the seats limited to maximum 40 seats as RCS seats on flights operating on these routes.

Fare of the RCS seats is capped at Rs 2,500 for one hour of flying. Unless the demands build up on these routes, the UDAN fourth rounds will also not take off in the region. The region being endowed with natural beauty can be huge attraction for domestic as well as foreign tourists as the short haul flights will allow flyers the opportunity to enjoy the scenic aerial views of the landscapes while flying to the connected destinations. Organic fruits and vegetables, processed fruits, orchids and other flowers and handicraft items of the region have high demands within the region as well outside. The state governments can harness the potential of subsiding the cargo operations to provide market linkage for the producers in their respective states through the RCS routes to reach out to buyers in other states and outside. The RCS routes need to be dovetailed to connectivity projects under India's Act East policy and Neighbourhood First policy so that tourists and other visitors travelling from South East Asian countries, Bhutan and Bangladesh are attracted by the air-connectivity provided by the RCS scheme can be tapped by tour operators in the region. Promoting the destinations in each state of the region in other seven states can go a long way in building the demand for subsidised tickets in these routes. It will also give a boost to intra-regional tourism and strengthen people-to-people engagement. Pandemic situation brings the opportunity of promoting tourism to tap the high-end Indian tourists who usually travel out to destinations abroad to visit the region and fly on RCS routes to explore the natural beauty while availing the subsidised air-travel. The central tourism and aviation ministries should also promote the RCS routes in the northeast region among such tourists. The states in the region have higher stakes in making this subsidised air connectivity sustainable by focusing on generating the demands instead of leaving it to market-driven demands. The states in the region need affordable air travel to remote locations the most and therefore cannot afford to let the RCS-UDAN 4.0 to crash land.