Narendra Modi on Wednesday lauded the regional connectivity scheme UDAN Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik which completed six years of work. UDAN, which was launched in 2016 and is the world's first-of-its-kind airline, was created to drive India's regional air market by enhancing the viability of unserved and underserved regional routes. Airlines compete for air routes and participate in bids. A airline that bids for the lowest subsidy is granted a contract.
On April 27, 2017 PM Modi flagged off the first flight between Shimla and New Delhi under the scheme. The last nine years have been transformative for India's aerospace sector, he said. The airports are modernised, new airports are built at a rapid pace and a record number of people are flying. Commerce and tourism have been boosted by the surge in intercity connectivity. The government has launched multiple editions of the program so far. Last week, the Centre began the fifth phase of the RCS - UDAN regional connectivity scheme. On April 21, the ministry of civil Aviation MoCA began the process of invitationing bids from airlines for various routes under the fifth round of bidding for its regional connectivity scheme UDAN by releasing a bid document.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the programme, which is based on the Viability Gap Funding model, has made significant changes in the connectivity in the country's regional territories.
In the past six years, 463 routes that were never thought to be possible have been made possible through the UDAN programme, he said. In the last six years, about 74 airports, including Kishangarh in Rajasthan, Rupsi in Assam, Darbhanga and others, were built and made functional. We have flown around 1 crore, 16 lakh passengers through Udan, a company spokesman said. Scindia said that the scheme is not only for the farmers or just the common man, it is for the entrepreneurs and new airlines. Many routes under the Udan scheme have now been re-usable. But the Udan program has been around for three years, but many airlines are still flying those routes because now customers want to travel by air. Udan has made multiple routes within the country go sustainable, Scindia said at BT MindRush 2023.
Under Udan 5.0, the government will introduce a demand-driven mode in which the airline bids under the scheme will be allowed to propose the routes.
The airlines will then be allowed to select the routes they want to bid for. However, the airlines will have more choice in terms of operating in flights that they believe will have a high demand.
Under the 5.0 version, only Category 2 flights with a capacity of 20 80 seats and Category 3 flights with a capacity of more than 80 seats will be operational.
The viability gap funding, a grant offered under the scheme with the intent of making a project financially sustainable, has also been revised. It has increased from 500 km to 600 km for both the priority and non-priority sectors.
The fifth stage of the Udan aims to connect more than 50 wildlife and tourist destinations.
The airline will be required to submit an action business plan two months after the LOA has been issued, in which they must outline their plan for buying aircraft and their capacity for hiring crew, using slot, and other details.