The Centre has given permission to four airlines to launch their regional services, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said here on Wednesday. Addressing the parliamentary consultative committee of civil aviation, Patel said these new category of airline services, called Scheduled Air Transport (Regional) Services, have been introduced to promote regional connectivity.

The carriers which have been issued NOCs are: M/s Star Aviation for Southern Region, Jagson Airlines for Northern Region, M/s MDLR Airlines for Northern Region and M/s Zav Airways for North-East/Eastern Region.
Patel said that during the year 2007, domestic airline passenger traffic had grown from 3.26 crore to 4.32 crore. “Considering the fact that the base is also growing, on a higher base the sector is registering a very good growth,” he added. He also informed that the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines was underway . “The fleet augmentation by the merged company was also underway. Of the 111 state-of-the-art aircraft that is to be added to its fleet, three Boeing 777-200LR, three Boeing 777-300ER, 10 Boeing 737-800, six A319 and five A321 aircraft have  been received. The remaining will be received by 2011.”

Patel referred to this as the Ministry’s efforts to talk to the state governments, “Talks have started yielding results as on Tuesday the AP government announced a reduction in the sales tax on ATF from 33 to four per cent.”