Srinagar: The Ministry of civil Aviation Thursday said that the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has identified 9.40 acres of land for establishing a new civil enclave for UDAN operations and the administration of UT Ladakh has been requested to handover the land to AAI.
The Minister of State (MoS) for Civil Aviation, V.K Singh stated this while replying to queries raised in the parliament including whether the Government has any proposal to operate the small flights to Kargil and Nubra in Union Territory of Ladakh and the feasibility condition of Kargil and Nubra airport?
In a written reply MoS said that the ministry of Civil Aviation has launched Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) – UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) on 21-10-2016 to stimulate regional air connectivity and making air travel affordable to the masses. UDAN is a market driven scheme.
“The interested airlines based on their assessment of demand on particular routes submit their proposals at the time of bidding under UDAN from time to time”, the reply reads. “Kargil & Nubra Valley (Thoise) airports in Ladakh (UT) are available in UDAN Document. The routes connecting Ladakh were awarded to Selected Airline Operators(SAOs) under UDAN include Kargil To Srinagar, Srinagar To Kargil, Jammu To Kargil, Kargil To Jammu, Thoise To Srinagar, Srinagar To Thoise, Thoise To Chandigarh and Chandigarh To Thoise.”
The reply reads that however, these routes were cancelled due to non-compliance of contractual agreements by the Selected Airline Operators. The above cancelled routes have been offered for bidding by airlines in the special round under UDAN 4.1.
It also reads that additionally, Pawan Hans Limited has deployed 02 Helicopters under the services of Union Territory of Ladakh for connecting the remote areas including Kargil and Nubra.
The MoS said that Kargil airport has been handed over by the Airports Authority of India(AAI) to Indian Air Force since 2003. “On request of the State Government, AAI has engaged the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to explore the feasibility of RNP-AR (Required Navigation Performance Authorization Required) procedures to access the airport”, the reply reads.
“Thoise Airbase is a military airfield in the Nubra region of Ladakh. AAI has identified 9.40 acres of land for establishment of a new civil enclave for UDAN operations. The administration of UT (Ladakh) has been requested to handover the said land to AAI”, reads the reply.
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