Ministry of Civil Aviation Lunches UDAN 5.0 with Increased Support to Improve Air Connectivity

On Friday, 21st April, the civil aviation ministry invited bids for the fifth phase of the ‘Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik scheme for improved regional air connectivity. Only aeroplane operations for Category 2 (20-80 seats) and Category 3 (more than 80 seats) will be included in the session, while there are no distance restrictions between origin and destination and a stage length maximum of 600 km has also been dismissed. Furthermore, the viability gap financing has been changed and extended from 500 km to 600 km.

UDAN Scheme

In 2016, India formalised its National Civil Aviation Policy. As a result, the UDAN project evolved into a regional airport development and Regional Connectivity project (RCS). The declared objective of UDAN is to make air travel easier and more affordable for the country's average citizens while also improving connectivity by air in remote places and making operations and connections sustainable.

The programme was first suggested as a ten-year plan with the goal of using current airport capacity and constructing new airports, as well as introducing new routes connecting underserved and unserved airports in collaboration with airlines. The UDAN framework is a market-driven scheme. At the time of bidding under the system, interested airlines submit bids based on their evaluation of demand on specific routes.

According to a PIB report, till January, this year, a total number of 73 unserved/underserved airports including 9 helicopters and 2 water aerodromes have been operationalized, since 2017, under the UDAN scheme. The latest airports that opened this year include, an airport in Halloungi in Arunachal Pradesh, an airport in Jamshedpur in Jharkhand and an airport in Rourkela in Odisha. The government has authorised the 'Revival of unserved and underserved airports' initiative, which aims to revitalise and develop 100 unserved and under-served airports, helipads, and water aerodromes by 2024. A PIB report claims a VGF amount of around Rs. 2355 crore has been released by January this year for the operation of UDAN flights. By August 2022, over 220 destinations along with over 950 routes were awarded to connect 156 airports.

Challenges with the UDAN Scheme

Under the scheme over 950 routes have been awarded till 2022. However, a report from the Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture suggests that only 403 routes out of the total 948 valid routes were operational by the start of 2022. The committee further comments, “ The Committee also notes that an extension of benefits has been granted for a period of one year only to routes completing three years tenure. The Committee feels that a helping hand should be given to the fledging RCS-UDAN routes considering the low number of operationalised routes and the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has resulted in lower passenger traffic and therefore, strongly reiterates its recommendation that benefits should be extended by another two years, instead of one year as granted by Ministry now”. It must be noted though, that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the overall demand on every route took a major hit and these comments might not reflect the true picture of this scheme today.

Overall, the UDAN scheme has been crucial in making air travel more accessible and affordable in India. The initiative has also been of high value in terms of infrastructure construction related to aviation needs. In a fast-paced world, UDAN has been key for common people to move with the pace of the world.