Centre approves 78 new routes under 4th round of Regional Connectivity Scheme-UDAN

The Civil Aviation Ministry on August 27, 2020, approved the 78 new routes under the 4th round of Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN). It is a Regional Connectivity Scheme that aims at further enhancing the connectivity to the regional and remote areas of the country.

As per the ministry, hilly states, North-East region, and Islands have been given priority in the approval process for the new routes. It added that 29 served, 8 unserved, and 2 underserved routes have also been included in the list for approved routes.

The Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) was launched by the Civil Aviation Ministry in 2010 to facilitate the regional air connectivity and to make air travel feasible for the masses. So far, overall 766 routes have been sanctioned under UDAN Scheme.

RCS UDAN flies higher!#UDAN 4.0 is ready to go.
78 additional routes have now been approved, taking the total number of sanctioned routes to 766.

18 unserved/underserved airports would be connected to metro cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Kochi, etc. pic.twitter.com/Vda7qgEfN6

— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) August 25, 2020

Key Highlights:

•  Under the approved routes, a special boost has been given to the connectivity in North East with routes from Guwahati to Rupsi, Tezu, Tezpur, Passighat, Shillong, and Misa.

•  Civilians will be able to fly from Hissar to Chandigarh, Dharamshala, and Dehradun under approved UDAN 4 routes.

•  Routes from Varanasi to Shravasti and Chitrakoot have also been approved.

•  Kavaratti, Agatti, and Minicoy islands of Lakshadweep have been connected by the new routes of UDAN 4.0.

Launch of UDAN 4.0:

Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation informed that the 4^th round of UDAN was launched by the Civil Aviation Ministry in December 2019 with a special focus on hilly states, North-East Regions and Islands and the awarding of these 78 routes under UDAN-4 is in line with the Act East Policy of the government.

List of 78 routes under Phase-I #UDAN 4.0. Bonanza to North East! #ActEastPolicy #SabUdenSabJuden pic.twitter.com/0cPuOKQkjN

— Usha Padhee (@ushapadhee1996) August 25, 2020

She further added that under UDAN 4, the operation of seaplanes and helicopter has also been incorporated. Since its inception, the ministry has operationalized 274 UDAN routes that have further connected 45 airports and 3 heliports.

Under the scheme, the airports that had already been developed by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) have been given the higher priority for the award of Viability Gap Funding (VGF).