Passengers can take advantage of the regional air connectivity scheme by booking flights with base airfares starting as low as Rs 150 for short routes like Lilabari to Tezpur, where the flight duration is around 50 minutes. This initiative offers affordable air travel options in regions like the North East, with various routes featuring base ticket prices ranging from Rs 150 to Rs 199, such as the Guwahati-Shillong route.
Apart from the North East, there are also routes in the South where travelers can find low-cost flights, for example, Bangalore-Salem and Cochin-Salem with base ticket prices in the Rs 150 to Rs 199 range. Additionally, routes like Imphal-Aizawl, Dimapur-Shillong, and Shillong-Lilabari have base airfares of Rs 500, while the Bangalore-Salem route has a slightly higher base ticket price of Rs 525.
Several routes operate under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) or UDAN, with a total of 559 operationalized routes as of March 31, 2024, according to the Airports Authority of India (AAI). This initiative launched by the civil aviation ministry in 2016 aims to boost regional air connectivity by providing incentives such as waived landing and parking charges for RCS flights, making air travel more feasible for passengers.