Govt’s Massive Expansion Plan For Udaan: 100 Airports, 1000 New Routes To Start Operating (Full Details)

As per the newest developments, the government of India has now announced that they will initiate operations of about 100 unserved and underserved airports and start at least 1,000 air routes.

As per the Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, these airports and air routes will be restarted under the UDAN scheme.

Read on to find out all the details about the government‘s massive expansion plan Udaan right here!

100 Airports and 1000 Air Routes To Be Operationalized By The Government

Under the UDAN scheme, 100 unserved and underserved airports and about 1000 air routes will now be operationalized by the government as revealed by the revealed by the Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

During a press conference about the Union Budget 2021-22, in BJP’s state office in Raipur, Puri also revealed that privatization is required in the field of aviation because running an airport is not the government’s specialization.

As per Puri, The ministry has now set a target of operationalizing 100 served and undeserved airports and start at least 1000 air routes under the Udan scheme. 

56 Airports Upgraded And 700 Routes Already Rewarded

Puri also said that 56 airports have been upgraded already and 700 routes have been awarded. Of these, air service has already commenced on 311 rows under the UDAN scheme after its launch in 2017 with Rs. 4 500 crores. 

He also said that domestic flight services from Bilaspur town in Chattisgarh will start operations on March 1 under the regional connectivity scheme. As of now, the Bilaspur- Prayagraj-Delhi route has been given to the Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India.

The minister also talked about the disinvestment of Air India. The minister has said that the airline currently is under the debt of about Rs. 60,000 crore. The process of privatization of Air India is being discussed for a long time now, but the materialisation will be done by the NDA government.

The Government also has plans to set up 100 more airports by 2025, as revealed by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).

Under the program, airlines compete to win subsidies for operating flights linking small airports with the bigger ones and the scheme is now in its fourth phase.