Question : AIR CONNECTIVITY .

(a) whether the Government proposes to provide air connectivity to a number of small cities/ remote areas/tourist destinations including Shirdi in Maharashtra;

(b) if so, the details thereof along with the locations identified for the purpose, State/ UT-wise and the time-frame fixed in this regard;

(c) whether the Government has any proposal to start passenger flight operations from Bhagalpur, Jodhpur and Raxaul airports and if so, the details and the present status thereof;

(d) the details of the proposals received by the Government from various States/ UTs to start air services from their States to other parts of the country during the last three years and the current year, State/ UT-wise along with the action taken thereon; and

(e) whether the Government proposes to formulate a new civil aviation policy and if so, the details and the status thereof along with the reasons therefor and the time by which the said policy is likely to be formulated?

Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION (Dr. Mahesh Sharma)

(a) & (b): Scheduled domestic carriers are operating flights to/from 77 airports in India, which include small cities/ remote areas and tourist destinations. Government of India has identified 5 locations namely, Hubli and Belgaum in Karnataka, Kishangarh in Rajasthan, Jharsuguda in Odisha and Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh for setting up of small airports to improve connectivity to these regions. In addtition, GoI has granted `inprinciple` approval for setting up of 15 Greenfield airports namely
(i) Mopa Airport, Goa
(ii) Navi Mumbai International airport, Maharashtra
(iii) Sindhudurg Airport, Maharashtra
(iv) Bijapur Airport, Karnataka
(v) Gulbarga Airport, Karnataka
(vi) Hassan Airport, Karnataka
(vii) Simoga Airport, Karnataka
(viii) Kannur International Airport, Kerala (ix) Durgapur International Airport, West Bengal (x)Dabra Airport, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh (xi) Pakyong airport, Sikkim

(xii) Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh (xiii) Karaikal in Pudducherry (xiv)Shirdi in Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra and (xv) Arnamula in Kerala.Scheduled domestic airlines have not filed proposal for providing air connectivity to/ from Shirdi in Maharashtra in Winter Schedule-2014.

(c) Scheduled flights are already operating from Jodhpur Airport. However, at present there is no proposal from any schedule airline to operate flights from Bhagalpur and Raxaul Airports.

(d) Requests from various State Governments/UTs i.e.Punjab, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Nagaland, Assam, Puducherry etc have been received to enhance connectivity to their States. In addition, the requests have also been received from Members of Parliament for improving connectivity/extension of services to certain places. The domestic air services have been deregulated by the Government but it has laid down Route Dispersal Guidelines with a view to achieve better regulation of air transport services taking into account the need for air transport services of different regions of the country. It is, however, up to the airlines to provide air services to specific places depending upon the traffic demand and commercial viability.As such the airlines are free to operate anywhere in the country subject to compliance of RDGs issued by the Government.

(e) Ministry of Civil Aviation has unveiled a Draft Civil Aviation Policy on 10th November, 2014 to address various issues related to the sector. This policy covers all the aspects of Civil Aviation Sector in the country. The Ministry has invited comments/suggestions of the public/stakeholders as well as all State Governments/ UTs on the draft policy, so as to facilitate its finalization at the earliest.