78 new routes get nod under 4th round of Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN

The Civil Aviation Ministry on Thursday approved 78 new routes under the 4th round of Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN (UdeDesh Ka AamNagrik).

The Civil Aviation Ministry in a release said, “Special boost is being given to connectivity in North East with routes from Guwahati to Tezu, Rupsi, Tezpur, Passighat, Misa and Shillong. People will be able to fly from Hissar to Chandigarh, Dehradun and Dharmshala under these UDAN 4 routes. Routes from Varanasi to Chitrakoot and Shravasti have also been approved.Agatti, Kavaratti and Minicoy islands of Lakshadweep have also been connected by the new routes of UDAN 4.0.”

So far, 766 routes have been sanctioned under the UDAN scheme. 29 served, eight unserved (including two heliports and one water aerodrome), and two underserved airports have been included in the list for approved routes.

The 4th round of UDAN was launched in December 2019 with a special focus on North-Eastern Regions, Hilly States, and Islands. The airports that had already been developed by AAI are given higher priority for the award of VGF(Viability Gap Funding) under the Scheme. Under UDAN 4, the operation of helicopter and seaplanes is also being incorporated. Since its inception, the Civil Aviation Ministry has operationalised 274 UDAN routes that have connected 45 airports and three heliports.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation had launched Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) in October 10, 2016 to stimulate regional air connectivity and making air travel affordable to the masses. Since then three round of biddings have been completed. The first RCS-UDAN flight was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 27, 2017 in Shimla.