Government Implements Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDGs) to Enhance Air Connectivity Across Diverse Regions of the Country

The Government of India with a view to achieve better connectivity of air transport services of different regions of the country is implementing the Route Dispersal Guidelines (RDGs). Routes have been classified into categories, namely, Category- I, II, II-A and III under RDGs. The criteria for routes classified under Category- I, are: –

A flying distance of more than 700 km, Average seat factor of more than 70% and Annual traffic of 5 lakh passengers over two full schedules i.e. summer and winter schedule.

Further, there are twenty routes connecting cities directly under the Category-I. These routes are Mumbai-Delhi, Delhi-Bangalore, Mumbai-Chennai, Hyderabad-Delhi, Bangalore-Kolkata, Bangalore-Pune, Delhi-Patna, Mumbai-Cochin, Mumbai-Chandigarh, Mumbai-Lucknow, Bangalore-Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Chennai, Mumbai-Kolkata, Chennai-Kolkata, Ahmedabad-Delhi, Mumbai-Jaipur, Delhi-Pune, Delhi-Goa and Chennai-Pune.

Routes connecting stations in North-Eastern Region, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep Islands are classified as Category-II. All scheduled operators are required to deploy in Category-II routes at least 10% of their deployed capacity on Category-I routes.

Routes within the North-Eastern Region, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep Islands and Cochin-Agatti-Cochin are classified as Category- IIA. All operator(s) are required to deploy at least 1% in Category- IIA routes of the capacity, deployed on Category- I route.

Routes other than those mentioned in Category- I, II and II-A are classified as Category-III. All operator(s) are required to deploy at least 35% in Category- III routes of the capacity, deployed on Category-I routes.