Center denies subsidized flights to Puducherry on technical grounds

While most of small airports in Northern and Western India are provided with the Udan facility by the Union Civil aviation Ministry through which Union government highly subsidizes the cost of flights, the facility has been denied to Puducherry on purely technical grounds. The decision has not taken into account the tourist potential of the town say the travel industry sources

The small sized airport at Puducherry is currently limping back to normalcy after remaining closed for nearly two years due to Covid 19 pandemic. Only Very small aircrafts can land at this airport

Puducherry has been excluded from the Udan’s subsidized flight scheme it is no longer qualified as an 'underserved' airport after its weekly departures exceeded seven,  said Union Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia. Travel industry sources flayed the civil aviation ministry’s decision on technical grounds since the tourism activity to the stateis just picking up

In a written reply in Loksabha Civil Aviation Minister, Scindia said Udan 5.0 is specifically aimed at enhancing connectivity for unserved and underserved airports. However, the ministry would consider any airline bids for connectivity from an unserved or underserved airport to Puducherry airport within the scope of the Udan Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), he said.

The existing airport in Puducherry has a runway length of 1,502m which is suitable for the operation of 72-seater aircraft. The runway must be extended for which an additional 395 acres of land in Tamil Nadu and 30 acres of land in Puducherry are required."As per the National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016, the land for development of an airport is to be provided by the respective state government/ Union territory administration free of cost and free from any encumbrances to the Airports Authority of India," said Scindia.

The minister said SpiceJet Ltd launched the 'Hyderabad - Puducherry - Hyderabad' route under the UDAN-RCS scheme on August 16, 2017…Scindia ruled out the possibilities of connecting Puducherry by air with Shirdi, Cochin and Tirupati as the three have been designated as 'served airports'.

"Therefore, a pair of served airports cannot be connected under RCS," he said. Traval industry sources said the civil aviation ministry bureaucracy always flagged technical issues to deny facilities to airports in southern India. They cite the instance of 100 year old airports at Madurai and Coimbatore not having adequate international flight because of their negative attitude.

The land for Tuticorin airport’s expansion project was handed over to the Airport authority of India by the Tamil Nadu government nearly 4 years ago…The Ministry is however concentrating on development of airport infrastructure in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.