The fourth largest airline in the country, SpiceJet, is likely to emerge with the maximum routes under the third round of regional connectivity scheme, which is likely to see a total of 8-9 players, sources close to the development told CNBC-TV18.

In addition to SpiceJet, the third round of UDAN or Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik is also expected to witness the participation of IndiGo, Jet Airways, Air India’s arm Alliance Air, TruJet and Star Air from Ghodawat group, sources said.

Seaplane or amphibious aircraft which can take off and land on land as well as water will also make entry in the third round and SpiceJet will be the main player in this category. In October 2017, the airline had entered into an agreement with Japan’s Setouchi Holdings to explore opportunities to acquire 10- and 14-seater amphibious and land planes to provide air connectivity to smaller towns and cities.

“Financial bids were opened yesterday (Wednesday) and we saw the participation of around 15 players. We are still conducting an evaluation of those bids and after assessment, it is likely that around 8-9 players will make the final cut,” one of the sources said on condition of anonymity.

The nodal agency, Airports Authority of India (AAI), had floated the bids under the scheme in the first week of November and the routes are likely to be awarded by the second week of January, another source said.

Aimed at making air travel widespread and affordable, the government had launched UDAN in April 2017 with five players including SpiceJet and Alliance Air. Routes under the second round were awarded in December 2017, which also saw the debut of helicopter services under the scheme.

However, in both rounds, the deadline of starting operations within six months after securing the routes were not met by most players due to a variety of reasons including unprepared airlines, unavailability of funds, high fuel prices and poor infrastructure at airports. In fact, the civil aviation ministry recently cancelled the routes awarded to Air Deccan and Air Odisha under the first round.

Taking these roadblocks into account, the ministry is conducting a thorough assessment of bank guarantees provided by airlines and is likely to award the routes in phases taking into account the condition of airport infrastructure.

“We will also have to see how much money we will be getting from the tourism ministry. We still have not received any funds from them, which they promised. We will only allot routes which we can fund,” another source said.

The third round of UDAN invited bids for over 200 unserved, 35 underserved airports and 10 waterdromes. A total of 33 cancelled routes from UDAN-1, over 100 routes from tourism ministry, eight north-eastern routes have also been included in the latest round.

First Published:Jan 3, 2019 4:57 PM IST