Calicut airport awaiting airlines to operate under UDAN scheme

High GST on jet fuel at Calicut cited for airlines’ reluctance

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has expressed unhappiness over the reluctance of some airlines to operate domestic flights under the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) at Calicut International Airport.

Earlier, the AAI had approved a route under UDANRCS for IndiGo airlines to operate non-stop flights between Delhi and Calicut. The company, which obtained the slot effective from April 30, has not yet commenced operation.

The UDANRCS is jointly funded by the Centre and the State government. For fixed-wing aircraft, there is a cap of fare at ₹2,500 per hour of flight for the 50% of the seats. Airline companies bid for routes in various rounds of auction. Alliance Air, Trujet, Spice Jet, and Air Odisha had bid for various routes last time.

K. Srinivasa Rao, Director of Calicut International Airport, said on Thursday that IndiGo had said that it had no aircraft to operate direct flight between Delhi and Calicut. However, it operated flight from Kannur to Delhi. This could be because of the low 1% GST on aviation turbine fuel at Kannur airport.

“It was only recently the State government decided to lower the GST on jet fuel from 28.75 % to 5% at Calicut,” he pointed out.

Connection flight

IndiGo has also been requested to start the operation of its discontinued connection flight between Calicut and Hyderabad. Now most of the flights are operating to Hyderabad via Bengaluru or Chennai.

As of now, Mr. Rao said, the Calicut airport handles 22 movements (11 arrivals and 11 departures) in the domestic sector a week. These flights include Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, and Spice Jet.

Air India introduced direct flights to New Delhi from Calicut from June 14.

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