VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Airports Development Corporation Limited (APADCL) asked for opinion of interested parties to operate 9-seater 9-seater aircraft in the State on select routes like Vijayawada to Puttaparthi airport and Vijayawada to Nagarjuna sagar airport. As on date, 625 and 478 people have shown interest on the routes respectively, through the official website of APADCL.
The State government is looking at these projects as part of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).
Virender Singh, CEO of APADCL, said that the government intends to give air connectivity to smaller cities. “Commercial airlines with the least number of seating capacities are only available with Jet Airways and Air India. These, operating only in north and east, are completely unavailable in southern or western regions of the country. The next available are the 72 seater ATR aircraft. For connecting smaller cities, commercial models are not viable. We need smaller aircraft like the nine-seater ones.”
He said that over 900 responses have come for Vijayawada to Puttaparthi route and over 600 responses for Vijayawada to Nagarjuna Sagar route. “These routes come under Viability Gap Funding (VGF) and a few aircraft carriers, showing interest to operate from Vijayawada airport, are also approaching us. We have a similar idea for RCS, where the VGF will be capped hourly, and trips will be an hour long. However, this is still under consideration,” he added.
Supreme Airlines is set to operate regional services from Vijayawada to Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and a few other places in a 9 seater aircraft, with the fare ranging from `2,500- ` 3,500. “We are discussing this with the State government under the VGF scheme, which gives a subsidy per flying hour. We will set up counters on the airport and operate from Vijayawada,” said Amit Agarwal, Chairman, Supreme Airlines.
Regional tourism
Virender Singh, CEO of APADCL, said that the government intends to give connectivity to smaller cities. He added 900 responses have come for Vijayawada to Puttaparthi route.