Neelam Mathews
Feb 20, 2017
Feb Air India is planning
to add Dornier 228 twin turboprops to the fleet of its Alliance Air subsidiary
to boost service to second- and third-tier cities under the government-backed Regional
Connectivity Scheme (RCS), which begins in March. Air India chairman
and managing director Ashwani Lohani told AIN that the
flagcarrier expects to lease 10 of the 19-seat aircraft from government-owned
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), which already produces military-configured
versions under license from Switzerland Ruag Aviation.
India’s Directorate
General of Civil Aviation is now working on a requested civil type
certification for the aircraft. “The certification from DGCA could well
be facilitated and speeded given HAL and Air India are both
government owned,” R.K Bali, managing director of India’s Business Aviation
Operators Association (BAOA) told AIN. He said that HAL, which
is in the process of creating a leasing division, will have to make provision
for maintaining the aircraft to airline requirements. So far, it has produced
125 Dornier 228s in India.
According to BAOA,
most flights under the RCS program will be of no more than 90
minutes' duration and on average carry 10 passengers.
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