Sign In
By signing in or creating an account, you agree with Associated Broadcasting Company's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
By signing in or creating an account, you agree with Associated Broadcasting Company's Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
New Delhi: The BJP government ever since coming to power has brought in numerous schemes for the benefit of the common people of the country. Be it farmers, women, the Dalits or the students, there is something for everyone. The government also came up with a scheme for helping the common people, especially those belonging to the middle income groups, to take flights to different destinations. This was made possible under the UDAN scheme of the Union government.
The acronym UDAN stands for Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik. This is a scheme of the Union government which was started on October 21, 2016. According to the government the scheme was aimed at helping the common man take a flight. The government in a press statement, said that the sky symbolises hopes and aspirations, but the dream of flying/taking a flight has remained elusive for many in the country. It was this gap that the UDAN scheme aimed at bridging.
The Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) - UDAN, was started under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, with an aim to increase regional air connectivity and start flights to unserved and underserved airports across India. Not only that, the scheme also aimed at making air travel affordable for the masses. The government also aims to improve infrastructure and connectivity to the country's remote regions through this scheme. The airfares were capped and subsidies provided by the government to the travellers under this programme.
The scheme of the government has a special imprint of PM Narendra Modi himself. He is believed to have said at one of the meetings of his Cabinet, that there was a need to democratise air travel. This was just before the launch of the scheme and the announcement of the National Civil Aviation Policy. A remark by the PM that he hoped to see people wearing slippers, boarding an aircraft, became the tagline of the scheme. UDAN - Journey from Hawai Chappal to Hawai Jahaj, was born soon after this meeting.
The UDAN scheme was implemented in phases. The UDAN 1 started in 2017. The phase started with 128 flight routes, which connected 70 airports. Of the 70, 36 were new airports. Five airlines were awarded flights to the airports. During UDAN 2 which started in 2018, several helipads were constructed and the focus shifted to underserved regions. Remote and hilly regions of the country got airports in this phase, with 73 unserved airports seeing flights land.
Next year in 2019, with UDAN 3, several tourist routes were announced, several north eastern regions of the country saw new air routes and seaplanes were introduced to connect water aerodromes. This phase of UDAN aimed at boosting tourism and connecting water bodies. With UDAN 4, the government announced 78 new routes. This phase focused on small airports and introduced special helicopter and seaplane routes. It also proposed new routes under the Sagarmala scheme of the government.
UDAN 5 which started in 2023 focused on better operationalization and enhancing connectivity. Helicopter connectivity was the focus area of the scheme in this phase and it also focused on reducing airfare caps by 25%.
In the Budget of 2025, the Union Finance Minister announced that a modified UDAN scheme will be launched. This will see flights to 120 new destinations and cater to 4 crore passengers in the next 10 years. This year Rs 2,400.31 crore has been allocated for the scheme. Dishing out figures, the Union Minister said that under the scheme 619 routes connecting 88 airports, including two water aerodromes and 13 heliports have already been constructed and are currently operational. These according to her are benefiting 1.4 crore people currently.
The UDAN scheme has not only helped the common man enjoy air travel, but also brought about benefits for the government. UDAN fuelled the growth of the aviation industry, enhanced tourism and helped in boosting air connectivity.
The UDAN scheme has kind of revitalised the aviation industry in India. Several new airlines have emerged in India and they are reporting good profits due to these short duration flight routes. Several regional carriers have benefitted from this scheme. Apart from this, planes to new airports means more travel and increase in tourism activity. Several northeastern regions of the country are now connected by flight and hence travellers prefer them for tourism activities even more. With UDAN 5, several hill regions got helipads, thus increasing accessibility.
UDAN scheme helped in connecting all 34 states and Union Territories of India with flights. There are 86 aerodromes in the country, which are operational as of October 2024, and several new airports like Darbhanga, Prayagraj, Hubli, Belgaum, and Kannur have also come up. Several non RCS flights, i.e. those not under UDAAN scheme also operate from these airports.
