Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia has said that the government is looking at options of leasing for sub 20-seater aircrafts to ensure viability of the scheme aimed at enabling last-mile air connectivity for Tier 2 and 3 cities.
Terming less revenue as an impediment for operators of sub 20-seater aircrafts, he stressed on the need to expand depth and breadth of aviation for the small aircrafts scheme aimed at sub 20-seater aircrafts to connect hilly states and crowded urban agglomerations like Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Former Executive Director of Air India, Jitendra Bhargava welcomed the prospect of leasing of small aircrafts by the government as consonant with its plans to operationalise 70 more airports.
Likening the model to cab aggregators where vehicles aren't bought but only requisitioned, he said that leasing won't just reduce the cost of buying but also maintaining aircrafts through a common service model.
Drawing parallels with commuter small aircrafts in US on routes with lesser air passenger traffic, Bhargava said that extensive deployment of smaller aircrafts will also imply lesser operational costs at smaller airstrips.
He feels this will enable growth of the aviation sector even in areas where airlines with bigger aircrafts had discontinued operations in the past due to less than adequate passengers.
Suggesting that such aircrafts may get booked for bulk passenger trips like corporate meetings or wedding parties, he opposed any kind of subsidies for sub 20-seater aircrafts to ensure their viability. He added that the only impediment to the growth in use of sub 20-seater aircrafts would be faster trains like Vande Bharat on shorter routes.
He explained that a cost benefit analysis may prompt many passengers to choose trains over air travel due to nearly same time of travel at a lesser cost and no obligation to report a couple of hours before the journey.
However, many aviation experts feel that even if the government buys small aircrafts to allow private players to procure them on lease, sub 20-seater flights will need a substantial amount of government subsidy before any established private player steps in.
Experts explained that profitability of smaller aircrafts is anyway wafer-thin as the per seat revenue significantly drops in sub 20-seater aircrafts as compared to medium or large aircrafts with over 200 or 400 seats respectively, while the salaries of the crew and cost of fuel remain the same.
With lesser speeds, small aircrafts take more time than larger aircrafts to complete the same round trip, and require the same strictness in mandated regulatory checks which keeps the operational costs high.
