Two small airports in Odisha and three in Chhattisgarh are still not in full readiness to start Air Odisha's services under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) as per the data available with the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Readiness of Utkela Airport is pending in Odisha for Air Odisha to start the Utkela to Raipur and Raipur to Utkela Air services, the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has informed.
The Ministry expects the Utkela Airport to be ready by August 2018 to commence the services.
Moreover, readiness of Ambikapur, Bilaspur,Jharsuguda and Raigarh airports is also pending for services of Air Odisha on Ambikapur to Bilaspur , Raipur to Jharsuguda, Jharsuguda to Raipur, Raipur to Raigarh and Raigarh to Raipur sector, it informed.
Notably, Chhattisgarh has signed MoU with the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for promoting Centre’s Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) in the State, officials informed.
The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation had earlier released the draft Regional Air Connectivity Scheme (RCS) for stakeholder consultation, with the twin objectives of promoting balanced regional growth and making flying affordable for masses.
The RCS is the key component of the National Civil Aviation Policy which was released by the Ministry on June 15, 2016. The scheme, which would be in operation for a period of 10 years, envisages providing connectivity to un-served and under-served airports of the country through revival of existing air strips and airports.
This would be achieved through a financial stimulus in the form of Central and State government concessions, as well as Viability Gap Funding to the interested airlines to kick-off operations from such airports, so that the passenger fares are kept affordable.