PUDUCHERRY: After a lull of around three months, Puducherry airport is set to resume flight operations to Bengaluru and Hyderabad from October 2. SpiceJet initially suspended operations on the Bengaluru-Puducherry-Hyderabad route from June 13 to July 2 and diverted its 76-seater Q400 bombardier aircraft on a new and more profitable route.
Puducherry Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister K Lakshminarayanan had written to Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia seeking the resumption of operations and extension of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) on the route.
“While the flight occupancy on Hyderabad-Puducherry sector is around 80% on weekdays and 90%-95% on weekends, occupancy on the Puducherry-Bengaluru sector is below 50%,” sources in SpiceJet said.
Though the route was initially covered for three years under RCS in 2017, it is no longer under the scheme. With no viability gap funding available, the burden of loss fell on airline operators. Bookings for the flights have resumed now.
The Centre is not keen on expansion
Puducherry government’s plan to expand the airport has hit a roadblock as the Civil Aviation Ministry has expressed doubts about the viability. Hence, the land acquisition for the expansion has not materialised even though the Tamil Nadu government said it was ready to provide land.
“Villupuram district collector had contacted the Puducherry government on initiating the land acquisition process, but it could not be taken forward,” said Lakshminarayanan. He added, “Around Rs 400 crore is required for the land acquisition. The government has sought Rs 2,500 crore special fund from the centre for the airport, National Law University and other projects. The chief secretary will meet the secretary of Civil Aviation and officials from the Airport Authority of India soon,”