86.05 lakhs passengers travelled under RCS- UDAN flights till January 9, 2022

UDAN is a market driven ongoing scheme where bidding rounds are conducted periodically for covering more destinations/stations and routes under the scheme. Interested airlines assess the demand on particular routes connecting these airports and submit their proposals at the time of bidding

PRAVASISAMWAD.COM

The Ministry of Civil Aviation launched Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) – UDAN (Ude Deshka Aam Nagrik) on October 21, 2016 to stimulate regional air connectivity and make air travel affordable to the masses. UDAN is a market driven ongoing scheme where bidding rounds are conducted periodically for covering more destinations/stations and routes under the scheme. Interested airlines assess the demand on particular routes connecting these airports and submit their proposals at the time of bidding.

The achievements under the UDAN scheme and measures to boost civil aviation sector in the country are:

• Till date, out of 948 valid routes, 403 routes involving 65 airports (including 8 heliports & 02 water aerodromes) have been operationalised across the country under UDAN.

• Approximately 86.05 lakhs passengers have travelled on UDAN flights since its commencement till 09.01.2022.

• UDAN has transformed the way people travel in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Regional airports like Jharsuguda, Kishangarh, Belgaum, Darbhanga, etc. have been witnessing exponential growth in air traffic.

• The scheme offers a unique opportunity to a common person to fly at an affordable price, for which the Government has capped the Airfare for the seats where VGF is extended to airlines under the RCS scheme.

• UDAN scheme has sparked significant increase in helicopter services in hilly areas and islands through use of heliports.

The linkage between the Civil Aviation Sector and Economic Growth is well recognized. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) study shows that the air connectivity has an economic multiplier of 3.1 and employment multiplier of 6.1.

COVID guidelines/protocols for the Airline are framed in consultation with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to boost confidence of the air travellers during COVID-19 pandemic.

The other steps include e-boarding, web check-in, contactless dropping of baggage, etc.

This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation (Gen (Dr) V K Singh (Retd) in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

************************************************************************

Readers

These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.

Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world.  We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.

Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.

In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.

For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com