Airports Authority of India (AAI) is planning to develop at least 100 Airports, Waterdromes, and Heliports by 2024 under UDAN (“Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik”)-Regional Air Connectivity Scheme.
i.The Fourth Anniversary of the UDAN Scheme was observed on 21st October, 2020.
ii.A video conference was organized to commemorate the anniversary, Pradeep Singh Kharola, Civil Aviation Secretary, Arvind Singh, Chairman of AAI participated in the virtual conference.
Key Points:
i.Around 50 unserved and underserved airports which includes five heliports with 285 routes have been added under the UDAN scheme.
ii.The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) is also working towards making the UDAN scheme Sustainable and improving its efficiency.
iii.Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, MoCA highlighted that Government of India acknowledged the contribution of UDAN initiative and identified 21 October 2020 as UDAN Day. The UDAN document was first released on October 21, 2017.
UDAN (“Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik”):
i.It is the flagship scheme of Government of India, which aims to provide affordable, economically viable and profitable air travel on regional routes.
ii.Since the launch, The Total number of routes under UDAN has gone up to 766.
iii.Airports Authority of India (AAI) is the implementing agency of UDAN.
iv.The Scheme will run for 10 years and will be extended after that.
Viability Gap Funding (VGF):
i.UDAN provides Financial support in the form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) to make routes financially viable, without insisting on the financial viability of the regional airports.
ii.it will be available to flight operators on specific routes for the First 3 years of operation.
UDAN 4.0:
In December 2019, The Fourth Round of UDAN – UDAN 4.0 was launched with special focus on North-Eastern Regions, Hilly States and Islands.
Recent Related News:
i.On May 5, 2020, The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Directorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA) launched Government Authorisation for Relief Using Drones(GARUD) portal (https://garud.civilaviation.gov.in).
ii.On 18th July 2020, The Ministry of Civil Aviation(MoCA) has set up the Investment Clearance Cell (ICC) under the chairmanship of Amber Dubey, joint secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation.
About Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA):
Union Minister – Hardeep Singh Puri
Headquarters – New Delhi
