Total 705 routes awarded under UDAN, 174 are operational: Aviation Minister

Out of total 705 routes which have been awarded by the Centre under the regional connectivity scheme UDAN, 174 routes have become operational till date, Rajya Sabha was told on Wednesday.

Ministry of Civil Aviation had launched Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN scheme on October 21, 2016, to facilitate and stimulate regional air connectivity and make air travel affordable to the masses.

Based on their assessment of demand on particular routes, the airlines submit proposals at the time of bidding under UDAN scheme from time to time.

In a written response to a question in the upper house, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said,"Out of the 705 routes awarded under RCS-UDAN version 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, 174 routes are operational till date."

As per the data presented by Puri in Rajya Sabha, IndiGo has been awarded total 32 networks under UDAN scheme. However, flight operations have commenced on nine networks only.

 

The data said that SpiceJet has been awarded total 50 networks, and the budget carrier has started flight operations on just the half of them.

"Rest of networks (of SpiceJet) likely to commence by July 31, 2019, subject to readiness of RCS airports," the minister said.

Total 16 out of 27 networks, awarded to Airline Allied Services Limited under UDAN scheme, flight operations have commenced at 16 networks till date, the data said.