Modi's Rs 28,840-cr push for regional flights under modified UDAN scheme

NEW DELHI: In a major boost to bringing the unserved and underserved areas of India on the air map, the Modi government on Wednesday approved a modified regional connectivity scheme (RCS) for 10 years with a budget outlay of Rs 28,840 crore. As many as 100 airports will be developed at existing unserved airstrips to enhance regional connectivity for Rs 12,159 crore. And the hilly, remote, island and aspirational regions will get 200 helipads with Rs 15 crore set aside of each of them. Under the modified “ude desh ka aam naagrik” (UDAN) scheme, a viability gap funding (VGF) of Rs 10,043 crore for airline operators operating the RCS routes has been allocated for 10 years.

These major changes were cleared at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi here on Wednesday, which aims to ensure “greater viability and sustainability for regional aerodromes and airline operators.” The biggest issue facing UDAN since its inception a decade back has been unreliable services provided on RCS routes by small RCS operators.

“Given the high recurring operation and management costs and limited revenue streams for RCS-only aerodromes, the scheme proposes to provide O and M support for three years capped at Rs 3 crore per annum per airport and Rs 90 lakh per annum per heliport/water aerodrome, estimated at Rs 2,577 crore for around 441 aerodromes,” a Govt statement said. “The scheme also proposes to procure two HAL Dhruv helicopters for Pawan Hans and two HAL Dornier aircraft for Alliance Air.”

Union aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said: “Over the last 10 years, UDAN has been able to add 663 new routes, 95 new airports (including heliports and water aerodromes). Around 1.6 crore passengers have travelled, making the dream of Inclusive and democratized air travel a reality. With today’s cabinet approval, another 100 airports, 200 heliports will be added to India’s Aviation growth story with an estimated 4 crore passengers to be benefited.”

“Along with infrastructure support, Rs 10,043 crore is also envisaged as VGF support for the airlines. Airports are not merely the transit hubs but also the economic engines for the region with multiplier effect on employment and GDP across all connected sectors…. budgetary allocations have also been made for state-owned Pawan Hans to procure two made in India Dhruv helicopters and Alliance Air to procure two made in India Hindustan 228 Aircraft,” Naidu added.

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