Mumbai: National carrier Air India (AI) on Wednesday started its second flight under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) on the Delhi-Gwalior-Indore-Mumbai sector. Last month, Alliance Air operated the first flight service under the scheme between Shimla and New Delhi at subsidised airfares.
In a statement, Air India said the new service will be operated thrice a week using a 70-seater ATR 72-600 all-economy class aircraft. A spokesperson said the Delhi-Gwalior, Mumbai-Indore and Indore-Mumbai legs of the flight will not be covered under the RCS scheme, so the benefit of subsidised air tickets will not be extended for travel between these destinations on the route.
“The benefits of the scheme will apply for the Gwalior-Delhi leg with a fare of ₹1,830, Gwalior-Indore at ₹2,500 and Indore-Gwalior at ₹2,500,” the spokesperson said.
Finalised earlier this year, RCS is intended to improve regional connectivity in parts of India that have little or no aviation services through a scheme of cross-subsidisation. Additionally, airport navigation and landing charges were exempted for RCS flights. In all, 72 airports have been included in the first round of allocations, covering 128 routes.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said, “RCS is the single best thing that has happened in India’s aviation history. At the speed with which the scheme is going and the bet that IndiGo has taken to add 50 ATR aircraft, we are going to rapidly add airports and we will hopefully have 200 airports in near future.”
