Centre to award UDAN-III routes soon

Centre to award UDAN-III routes soon

News

The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation will award new regional connectivity routes under UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik) III

Important facts

UDAN and Its Phases

1. UDAN scheme was launched in n 2016 to make air travel affordable through subsidised tickets and to provide its access to smaller towns.
2. It aims to connect major cities with tier-II and tier-III cities at a price of Rs 2,500 per one-hour flight.
3. In its first phase in 2017, 5 airlines were mandated to fly on 128 regional routes
4. In the second phase in 2018 15 airlines on 325 regional routes including those having chopper operations were mandated.
5. The third round of bidding under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) – UDAN for domestic routes concluded recently and 15 airlines had bid for a total 111 routes.

Setback to the scheme:

• Air Odisha and Air Deccan despite getting regional connectivity routes, could not launch many flights due to lack of resources. This has been a major setback for the scheme.

Additional Information

Vision 2040

1. The government is also set to launch a Vision 2040 for the aviation sector. Vision 2040 is an effort to formulate a clear strategy for India’s growth in the aviation sector.
2. The policy will focus on manufacturing aircraft in India, on technology, finance and areas of growth in order to leverage the most from the aviation sector