PUDUCHERRY: The Union Territory of Puducherry has been suffering without flight connectivity for over two months as SpiceJet suspended its flight operations on the Bengaluru-Puducherry-Hyderabad route from June 13 citing operational reasons. Seeking assistance in resuming the operations, Puducherry Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister K Lakshminarayanan has recently written to the union ministry.
“Highlighting the need for extending the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) on this route, I have written to Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia," said Lakshminarayanan.
According to sources, in order to operate special flights to Jeddah for Haj pilgrims, SpiceJet withdrew some Boeing flights on certain sectors. Hence, the Q400 Bombardier aircraft on the Hyderabad-Puducherry-Bengaluru route was diverted till July 2. However, even after this need was met, the operations has not been resumed. Sources said there is a shortage of crafts as SpiceJet is operating on new routes.
Once new crafts are acquired by the company, they may resume flights after October on the Puducherry route. As the matter remains uncertain, the government has approached the central ministry.
Sources added that SpiceJet had been facing loss in the route which could be the reason for the flight suspension and diverting to a lucrative sector.
Sources from the company said, on the Hyderabad-Puducherry sector, the flight occupancy on weekdays is around 80% and on weekends it is up to 95%. However, in the Puducherry-Bengaluru sector, the occupancy is merely 40 to 50% on weekdays and weekends.
The route was covered under the RCS till 2017. With no viability gap funding available, the burden of loss fell on the airline operators. “In order to ensure that Puducherry remains connected by air, the RCS needs to be extended. Several other viable routes to Coimbatore and Cochin could also be explored,” said Lakshminarayanan.
BJP's Puducherry unit president V Saminathan had also written to the central ministry seeking their intervention into the matter. SpiceJet, which started operating flights from the UT to Bengaluru in 2013, could not get enough income and stopped operation a year later. Air connectivity got snapped again in October 2015 after Alliance air, a subsidiary of Air India, stopped its operations barely five months after commencement. Later, SpiceJet again started operations in 2017 under the RCS which was halted during the pandemic. The service to Bengaluru and then to Hyderabad was resumed in March 2022 which was suspended again.