UDAN 4.1 | 18 Mar 2021

Why in News

On the commencement of the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (India@75)’, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has proposed about 392 routes under UDAN 4.1 bidding process.

Key Points

• About UDAN 4.1:
  
  • The UDAN 4.1 focuses on connecting smaller airports, along with special helicopter and seaplane routes.
  • Some new routes have been proposed under the Sagarmala Seaplane services
    
    • Sagarmala Seaplane Services is an ambitious project under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways with potential airline operators.
      • One such seaplane service is already in operation between Kevadia and Sabarmati Riverfront in Ahmedabad, which was started in October 2020.
• About UDAN Scheme:
  
  • Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) was launched as a regional connectivity scheme under the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 2016.
  • It is an innovative scheme to develop the regional Aviation market.
  • The objective of the scheme is to create affordable yet economically viable and profitable flights on regional routes so that flying becomes affordable to the common man even in small towns.
  • The scheme envisages providing connectivity to un-served and underserved airports of the country through the revival of existing air-strips and airports. The scheme is operational for a period of 10 years.
    
    • Under-served airports are those which do not have more than one flight a day, while unserved airports are those where there are no operations.
  • Financial incentives from the Centre, state governments and airport operators are extended to selected airlines to encourage operations from unserved and under-served airports, and keep airfares affordable.
  • Till date, 325 routes and 56 airports including 5 heliports and 2 water aerodromes have been operationalised under the scheme.
• UDAN 1.0:
  
  • Under this phase, 5 airlines companies were awarded 128 flight routes to 70 airports (including 36 newly made operational airports).
• UDAN 2.0:
  
  • In 2018, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced 73 underserved and unserved airports.
  • For the first time, helipads were also connected under phase 2 of the UDAN scheme.
• UDAN 3.0:
  
  • Inclusion of Tourism Routes under UDAN 3 in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism.
  • Inclusion of Seaplanes for connecting Water Aerodromes.
  • Bringing in a number of routes in the North-East Region under the ambit of UDAN.
• UDAN 4.0:
  
  • In 2020, 78 new routes were approved under the 4^th round of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) - UdeDeshKaAamNagrik (UDAN) to further enhance the connectivity to remote & regional areas of the country.
  • Kavaratti, Agatti, and Minicoy islands of Lakshadweep will be connected by the new routes of UDAN 4.0.

Source: PIB