Aviation Ministry to rework on air routes - Fusion - WeRIndia

Will small cities like Shimla have regular air connection with Delhi in the coming days? Do big airlines fly there as they are in Delhi? It will happen soon in the future. Government is mulling on reworking 22-year old air routes in the country.

If the proposal of Civil Aviation Ministry works, then large airlines will fly in small cities of the country. For this, the air routes are to be reworked. Yesterday, the Ministry told the Supreme Court that the airline routes would be reworked so that it will be easy for the big carriers to fly on small towns and cities like Shimla.

The Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDG) were made 22 years ago and they need to be changed as per the present needs. Ranjit Kumar, Solicitor general told to a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice U U Lalit that the modification of RDG is essential in the country since the aviation industry has undergone a sea change.

Due to the old RDG, it is difficult for the big airlines to fly in small cities and town. This is the reason for Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh not having consistent air connection with Delhi. And many large commercial airlines declined to fly in small cities due to short airstrip.

The bench stated that large airlines are using it as a bluff to not fly to Shimla. They are not buying smaller aircrafts as it might not be economical for them. The bench asked the DGCA to revisit the RDG. They said that the guidelines should be modified to make the big airlines fly to places like Shimla. The bench gave the civil aviation ministry three weeks to do their modifications. The matter has been posted for hearing on April 12 by the bench.

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