PMO Steps in to Clear Fog Over Northeast Air Traffic

New Delhi, Feb 2 : With complaints mounting from the Northeastern states on airlines using the Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDGs) to promote their commercial interests and neglecting the demand for enhanced air connectivity in the hinterland, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s office has asked the Civil Aviation Ministry to begin consultations with the concerned stakeholders to review the RDGs.

The government has also decided to bring additional destinations in the Northeast region on the civil aviation map by facilitating creation of airport infrastructure.

As reported by The Indian Express earlier, the government had decided to plug a loophole in the civil aviation guidelines that allowed domestic airlines to report high compliance with the North-Eastern Region (NER) flying quota without undertaking actual flying into the region. An airline could end a flight in the commercially viable destination of Bagdodra, West Bengal, to meet the 10 per cent NER connectivity quota.

At a recent high-level meeting, the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary T K A Nair told top civil aviation ministry officials that while looking at reviewing the guidelines, they should also actively examine the Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region’s (DONER) proposal for extending support to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for creation of a modern airport infrastructure in the region on the lines of Special Accelerated Road Development Programme-North East (SARDP-NE).