UDAN scheme likely to be extended to 20 popular yet remote tourist spots

The Civil Aviation Ministry will soon be extending air connectivity service to remote and small areas under its regional connectivity scheme (RCS) called UDAN. This move is motivated by its efforts to make tourist hotspots like Kaziranga, Ajanta and Ellora, Hampi, and many more places easily accessible to tourists via air. As of now, the ministry will be connecting around 20 tourist spots under this RCS initiative.

Referring to this move, the Tourism Ministry will be providing Viability Gap Funding (VGF), which is necessary to operate flights for those places. The government launched the UDAN scheme in June 2016 with much fanfare; under this initiative, fares for airline are capped at INR 2500. Routes are bid out to private air carriers and Civil Aviation Ministry provides a VGF for the 50% seats where fares are capped. The VGF for routes that fall under tourist network will be provided by the Tourism Ministry. Other specifics that come along with UDAN scheme will remain the same, which required the commercial airlines to pay a small charge to manage the cost operations.

The ministry is now keen on making UDAN scheme viable for international destinations too.
Referring to this development, the Civil Aviation Ministry said, “We have had discussions with domestic airlines on having international UDAN, and they are very keen on it. However, there are issues like if foreign airlines can be allowed to participate in the scheme. Domestic airlines are also not in favour of having foreign airlines.”