Focus: GS III- Indian Economy
Why in News?
Ministry of Civil Aviation’s flagship program Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN (UdeDeshkaAamNagrik) has completed 5 years of success since the launch of it first flight by Prime Minister on 27th April 2017.
About Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN):
Nodal: Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA)
- It is an innovative scheme to develop the regional aviation market.
Objective:
- To create affordable yet economically viable and profitable flights on regional routes so that flying becomes affordable to the common man even in small towns.
- To stimulate regional air connectivity and making air travel affordable to the masses.
- The scheme envisages providing connectivity to un-served and underserved airports of the country through the revival of existing air-strips and airports. The scheme is operational for a period of 10 years.
- 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.
UDAN 1.0
- Under this phase, 5 airlines companies were awarded 128 flight routes to 70 airports (including 36 newly made operational airports)
UDAN 2.0
- In 2018, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced 73 underserved and unserved airports.
- For the first time, helipads were also connected under phase 2 of UDAN scheme.
UDAN 3.0
Key Features of UDAN 3 included:
- Inclusion of Tourism Routes under UDAN 3 in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism.
- Inclusion of Seaplanes for connecting Water Aerodromes.
- Bringing in a number of routes in the North-East Region under the ambit of UDAN.
UDAN 4.0:
- The 4th round of UDAN was launched in December 2019 with a special focus on North-Eastern Regions, Hilly States, and Islands.
- The airports that had already been developed by Airports Authority of India (AAI) are given higher priority for the award of VGF (Viability Gap Funding) under the Scheme.
- Under UDAN 4, the operation of helicopter and seaplanes is also been incorporated.
