After several delays, Hindon IAF base may see RCS flights from October

NEW DELHI: The long-awaited subsidised regional connectivity scheme (RCS) flights from Hindon IAF base, near Delhi, could begin by mid-October. Private operator Heritage Aviation has told Airports Authority of India (AAI) that it may begin Hindon-Pithoragarh flight from October 8. After that, another private company, Star Air, could begin Hindon-Hubli from October 27.However, stable RCS operations from Hindon will come only when big players like IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India group begin them.
The RCS experience of small players, including those like Deccan Aviation and Air Odisha, has not been encouraging. “IndiGo is looking at operating RCS flights with Airbus A320s from Hindon. The understanding for starting RCS flights here was that only under 80-seater planes will be deployed for them at Hindon. Since IndiGo is looking at 180-seater A320s, slot approval for the same from GMR Group — which runs IGI AIrport — is not forthcoming,” said a senior AAI official.
A Heritage Aviation official said the company has given a tentative date to AAI for starting RCS flights from Hindon and hopes to do so in the first fortnight of October. “We plan to operate a 9-seater Beechcraft King Air 350 on Hindon-Pithoragarh sector. To begin with, we will have a daily flight and we have been awarded two flights daily which will happen. We have one plane as of now and hope to get 6 King Airs 350 in next six months if all approvals are in place,” said Heritage Aviation CEO Rohit Mathur.
RCS was based on small players providing connectivity between unconnected or under-connected routes but the experience has not been good as the small players have not been able to start routes on time or continue them as we have seen with Deccan and Air Odisha. Further the shutting down on Jet Airways this April suddenly freed up slots at the infra-starved IGI Airport. Therefore, there has been a further delay in big airlines starting flights from Hindon while the small players who have got routes are struggling to get the infra in place to begin these schedule flights.
AAI had completed the civil enclave at Hindon earlier this year and regular service under ude desh ka aam nagrik (Udan) — on which fares are capped at Rs 2,500 per hour of flying for a certain number of seats on each flight — were to begin from May from here to eight airports. The destinations it is supposed to link are: Gulbarga, Nashik, Hubali, Shimla, Pithoragarh, Jamnagar, Kannur and Faizabad.
Apart from the eight airports mentioned earlier, the other routes awarded from this IAF base under UDAN include: Lucknow-Hindon-Kolkata-Jorhat; Hindon-Bhopal-Ozar (Nasik); Hindon-Jaisalmer-Udaipur; Hindon-Gorakhpur-Allahabad; Hindon-Allahabad-Kolkata; Hindon-Kannur; Ozar (Nasik)-Hindon and Tirupati-Hubli-Hindon. Most of these new flights will be by IndiGo and a couple of small, new players.
AAI has constructed a civil terminal at a cost of Rs 45.2 crore. Hindon’s civil terminal building is air-conditioned and a pre-engineered structure built in an area of 3,500 square metres. The terminal will have a peak capacity to handle 300 passengers per hour (150 departing and as many arriving). It will have all facilities like check-in concourse, security hold area, baggage handling system and commercial outlets. Air traffic control for the regional flights operating from here will be provided by the IAF ATC at Hindon.