Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Shri K.C. Venugopal informed the Lok Sabha today that following steps have been taken to encourage operation of flights to some of the low density/ non-operational airports:
(i) No landing charges levied on aircraft with maximum certified capacity of below 80 seats being operated by domestic scheduled airlines and helicopters of all types for operation at AAI airports except at Chennai and Kolkata airports;
(ii) Landing and parking charges at all airports in the North-East Region, Jammu & Kashmir, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep (other than Defence airports) reduced by 25% of the current rates for domestic scheduled airlines;
(iii) Night parking charges between 2200 hours and 0600 hours kept at 50% of the existing parking charges at all AAI airports except at Chennai and Kolkata airports;
(iv) Waiver of night parking charges for aircraft of domestic operators at airports located in States where the State Government levies VAT on ATF at 5% or below; and
(v) If an existing airline plans a new flight to connect new stations at airports located in Tier-II and Tier-III cities from Tier-I city and vice-versa or in between two or more Tier-II and Tier-III cities, then the same is given priority over other airlines for allocation of slots as per the slot allocation guidelines.
