Covid-19 slowdown: PM Modi's pet UDAN scheme faces major headwinds

Future of many regional airlines looks uncertain if the fund that underwrites their operations dries up due to massive drop in traffic between bigger cities

As airline companies stare at billion-dollar losses and a possible washout in 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet regional connectivity scheme, UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) risks being reduced to a blip on India’s aviation radar without state support. 

This ambitious scheme, launched in 2017, is meant to connect smaller cities and towns in India with each other and the big ones. Airlines have to sell half their seats at subsidised rates, and airfares are capped at anywhere between Rs 1,420 and Rs 3,500, depending on the length of the flight. Most of the 266 routes connected under UDAN