New regional aviation policy in India: Early indicators and lessons learnt

Abstract

In this article, we study the new regional aviation policy of India along with data collected on the performance of the scheme since its introduction in 2016. The scheme has multiple objectives. First, it wants to increase footprints of civil aviation to unserved and underserved airports of India. Second, it intends to make flying more affordable. It comes out, the aviation market in the country has expanded due to the addition of new routes under the scheme but data indicates that there is a regional imbalance in the performance of the scheme. Moreover, there are still questions on the long term sustainability of many routes and finding a solution for neglect of some priority regions. We have identified economic and commercial challenges that need to be addressed for the program to achieve its goals. The insights gathered during the study can be generalized and policy makers and managers of remote area air-connectivity schemes of different countries should find them useful.