Tag Archives: UDAN

The first passenger flight has taken off from Tezu, Arunachal Pradesh to Guwahati, Assam under the UDAN initiative to improve the air connectivity in the Northeastern Region, it was revealed in a tweet by the DoNER Ministry. Tezu is believed to be a stunning location to explore and it is believed that the flight service will make a comfortable trip for travellers and pilgrims in North East Region.

Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, the new Cabinet Minister for Civil Aviation, has shared that starting July 16, eight new flights will connect the state of Madhya Pradesh to other destinations in India via SpiceJet. The planned routes are Gwalior-Mumbai-Gwalior, Gwalior-Pune-Gwalior, Jabalpur-Surat-Jabalpur and Ahmedabad-Gwalior-Ahmedabad. Scindia says that his Ministry and the aviation industry are committed to taking UDAN to greater heights with these routes.

A trial flight operated by Flybig Airlines safely landed at the Pasighat Airport in Arunachal Pradesh on May 23, and the carrier has now started scheduled civil operations from Monday, according to the Union Civil Aviation Ministry. The ministry expects that the direct flights under the central government’s UDAN scheme will boost the economic opportunities in the region, it was revealed in a Tweet.

Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has proposed 392 routes under UDAN 4.1 bidding process, and is focused on connecting smaller airports, along with special helicopter and seaplane routes. Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, MoCA, says, “This round invites bids for priority routes which have not been covered under UDAN so far.”

IndiGo has announced direct flights from Kurnool to Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam, and Chennai March 28 onwards, strategically enhancing regional connectivity in southern India. The LCC will begin these operations under the UDAN scheme.

Rupsi airport in Assam has been redeveloped at an estimated cost of Rs69 crore, and is ready to commence flight operations under UDAN, said AAI, providing direct connectivity to cities like Guwahati in Assam and Kolkata in West Bengal. Its runway is suitable for landing ATR72 type aircraft. The terminal building has 10 check-in counters.

Northeast India will now have more representation and promotion, said Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism, Government of India. He added, “Every Northeast state has so much diversity with its unique culture, heritage, and food. The circuits that are being created across the country to promote domestic tourism is a great concept. Earlier Northeast India faced connectivity issues. But now, there will be train and air connectivity through UDAN. We need to change the perception of northeast and talk a more about its beautiful offerings. Road developments and infrastructure have to be talked about.”  

Ashwani Lohani, CMD, Air India, revealed that Air India Group operates 159 aircraft and commenced new/increased frequencies at 83 domestic and 51 international destinations, and established 35 UDAN routes in the last 5 years. The revenues have grown from Rs.16,000 crore during 2012-13 to Rs.23,900 crore in 2017-18 while the passenger load factor has increased from 72% to 79.6%. Air India has record number of women pilots i.e. 11% of total strength of pilots compared to average 2-3% even in advanced countries.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) awarded 235 routes to different airlines, out of which 46 are tourism routes, and 189 are under Regional Connectivity Scheme. Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister, Civil Aviation, said, revealed, “We are working with Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Commerce, as we have sanctioned a programme of 12 champion sectors of service development, under which Rs 5000 crores were allowed as sanctions. Part of that money is being given to MOT, which in turn is giving that money to aviation ministry for these routes.” Rajeev Nayan Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation, shared that for the first time MOT came on board for the UDAN scheme. “MOT asked us to conduct tourism route-wise bidding, for which they will be providing funds. The difference between MOT route and the conventional RCS UDAN route is that MOT wants tourist places should be connected among themselves. It may happen that the airport which they are wanting may have enough flights but between two tourist destinations, there may not be a flight. So the MOT’s intention was that we should conduct the bidding, not for individual airports, but for routes which are specified by them. MOT has in turn got it collated by interacting with the tourism professionals, both in the private sector as well as the government sector, including state governments and other stakeholders before giving it to us,” he said.

Air Odisha has started its services to Chhattisgarh from Andhra Pradesh, as it launched a flight to Jagdalpur from Visakhapatnam through Raipur. The services launched under the Udan regional connectivity scheme were inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through video conferencing. “We are happy to announce the launch of our new routes in Chhattisgarh connecting with Andhra Pradesh. The UDAN scheme is an excellent scheme initiated under the flagship of our Honourable Prime Minister, Narendra Modi which would aid to the growth of the economy where a common man can also now travel more affordable and convenient way and we are delighted to be a part of this historic moment of nation’s aviation sector,”Shaishav Shah, Managing Director of Air Odisha’s & Executive Director of GSEC said. “In terms of outright benefits to the passengers and travellers, Raipur -Jagdalpur (288 km by road) travel time of 15 hours by train and 6 -7 hours by road shrinks to a mere 40 minutes that to at a cost of Rs 1,670,” the Air Odiaha said in a release. UDAN is to let the common citizens of the country fly by making the air travel affordable and widespread and Air Odisha is able to materialise this goal. With every passing month Air Odisha is adding more regions to its radar for better connectivity in the towns.  In this context commencement of regional connectivity scheme in towns like Jagdalpur, Raipur, Vizag continue to demonstrate Air Odisha’s growth.