As Many as 24 flights have been cancelled in the last 3 years from to Belagavi Airport, including 8 flights from Spicejet and Star Air recently. Taking the cancellation of flight operations from to Belagavi Airport seriously, Chikkodi MP Annasaheb Jolle had raised unstarred questions in Parliament to the Minister of Civil Aviation.
Following unstarred questions raised in the parliament (Lok Sabha) by Chikkodi (Belagavi) MP Annasaheb Jolle, Minister of state for civil aviation VK Singh on Thursday informed that ‘It is upto Airlines to introduce air service from to any Airport’ in a written response to a question in Lok Sabha.
Questions from MP Annasaheb Jolle
(a) whether the Government is aware of the steep discontinuation of aviation services from Belagavi to other metro and pilgrim cities
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(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) whether the Government has taken any steps to improve the aviation services at Belagavi, State of Karnataka and if so, the details thereof?
Answers by MoSCA VK Singh :
(a) : Ministry of Civil Aviation has launched Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)- UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) on 21.10.2016 to enhance regional air connectivity across the country from unserved and underserved airports in the country and making air travel affordable to the masses. Interested airlines based on their assessment of demand on particular routes, submit their proposals at the time of bidding under UDAN.
(b) : Under the scheme, 98 routes involving six airports in Karnataka namely Bidar, Mysore, Vidyanagar, Hubli, Kalaburgi & Belgavi have been operationalised with UDAN flights. As per ongoing Winter Schedule 2022, M/s Indigo and M/s Star Air have filed for operation of flights from Belagavi to Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Nagpur, Tirupati, Jodhpur, Ahmedabad, Surat and Indore.
(c) : With the repeal of Air Corporation Act in March 1994, the Indian domestic aviation was totally deregulated. Airlines are free to induct capacity with any aircraft type, free to select whatever markets and network they wish to service and operate with the compliance of Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDGs) issued by Government. Hence, it is up to the airline operator for introduction of air services to / from any airport in country depending on their operational & commercial viabilities. Ministry of Civil Aviation regularly interacts with the airlines to promote air connectivity.
