Regional Connectivity Scheme – UDAN 4.0 | UPSC
HEADLINES:
Work Towards Making UDAN Scheme Sustainable
WHY IN NEWS:
- 50 Unserved and Underserved Airports added Under UDAN
- 4TH Anniversary of RCS-UDAN
SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Scheme
LEARNING:
For PRELIMS numbers in the scheme are not important . Go through the information and the latest updates . That should suffice .
For MAINS go through the significance of the scheme . Let us dive in !
ISSUE:
REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY SCHEME – UDAN 4.0
- UDAN scheme has established the importance of travelling by air for common man specially to far flung areas.
- The UDAN routes feed the national network and the national routes further create new opportunities for the people across the country .
AIM
- RCS-UDAN, “Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik” is a Government of India’s flagship program .
- This Regional Connectivity Scheme offers unique opportunity to a common man to fly at an affordable price.
- UDAN has played a major role in adding new airports and routes to the aviation landscape of the country.
- 50 unserved and underserved airports (including 5 heliports) with 285 routes have been added under UDAN across the length and breadth of India.
IMPLEMENTATION
- Airport authority of India, AAI has an ambitious plan to develop at least 100 airports/waterdromes/heliports by 2024 under the Scheme.
- The first flight under the UDAN scheme was flagged in 2017 from Bhubaneswar to Varanasi route.
SIGNIFICANCE
- To make travel affordable and accessible to all.
- Ensuring connectivity to the under-served areas in the country by the revival of existing airports and airstrips
- Ministry aims to operationalize around 1000 routes and develop more than 100 airports in the next five years.
- The Ministry aims to achieve this by focusing on operationalizing routes in the priority areas.
FUNDING
- The scheme will be jointly funded by the central government and state governments.
ACHIEVEMENTS
- Three rounds of UDAN have already been undertaken and so far close to 50 lakh passengers have travelled in UDAN flights covering airports in 19 States and 2 UTs.
- Civil Aviation Ministry has operationalised 274 UDAN routes that have connected 45 airports and three heliports.
- At least half of the seats in UDAN flights are offered at subsidized fares, and the participating carriers are provided a certain amount of VGF.
FOCUS
- With focus on connectivity of North eastern region, UDAN 4.0 has invited bids for six underserved and 24 unserved airports/airstrips.
- The underserved airports and airstrips in the list are at Passighat and Tezu (Arunachal Pradesh), Jorhat, Rupsi and Tezpur (Assam), and Shillong (Meghalaya).
- As per the release, there are 24 underserved aerodromes in the region spread across Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.
FLASHBACK
UDAN 1.0
- 5 airlines companies were awarded 128 flight routes to 70 airports (including 36 newly made operational airports)
UDAN 2.0
- This allowed the state governments to provide subsidy for international flights to be launched from their states.
- In 2018, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced 73 underserved and unserved airports.
- 50 per cent seats on each flight will come at Rs 2,500 per seat for one-hour travel.
UDAN 3.0
- Inclusion of Tourism Routes under UDAN 3 in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism.
- The selected airline operator would have to provide a minimum of 9 and a maximum of 40 UDAN Seats (subsidized rates) .
IASbhai WINDUP:
- The civil aviation ministry said bids have been sought for six underserved and 24 unserved airports and airstrips in the North East region under the latest round of regional air connectivity scheme.
- A water aerodrome in the region at Umrangso Reservoir, Assam is also included.
- The fourth round of bidding under the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) or regional air connectivity scheme commenced on December 3.
- UDAN seeks to connect unserved and underserved airports as well as make flying more affordable.
SOURCES: PIB | Regional Connectivity Scheme – UDAN 4.0 | UPSC

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