Rise Of The Regional Rajas

Over the last few months, the ambitious regional connectivity has received a boost from SpiceJet and IndiGo, the two top low cost carriers, that are readying to take the pole position to reach the last man at the end of the last mile.

- Mike Rajkumar

2017 has proved a watershed year for regional connectivity in India, with Indian low-cost carriers (LCCs) in particular making the leap of faith in terms of enhancing their regional connectivity services (SpiceJet) and making a dramatic departure from the well-proven single aircraft type LCC model (IndiGo).

Nobody in Indian aviation industry will dispute that 2017 was the year of SpiceJet, with the airline now having made a phoenixlike resurrection. The airline had earlier this year placed an order for up to 225 narrow and widebody jets with Boeing and has aggressive plans for its regional connectivity ambitions. The carrier has been amongst the pacesetters for the UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme starting operations on three routes in the past three months and says that it is the only airline which has not sought subsidy or viability gap funding that is available under this scheme. It is also starting operations in the remaining sectors under the UDAN scheme, namely Kanpur, Adampur and Jaisalmer. Besides adding capacity on existing routes, the airline was awarded six proposals and 11 routes under the UDAN scheme, which come with three-year exclusivity on the routes, meaning that only SpiceJet can operate on those sectors. It will also benefit from the reduced cost on account of low Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) taxes and exemption from landing and parking charges at regional airports under the regional connectivity scheme.

Over the Water Approach