As per the latest developments, a total of 78 additional flight routes have been approved under the fourth round of regional connectivity scheme, i.e., Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik. This was recently announced by the Civil Aviation Ministry. Reportedly, in this phase, focus will be more on boosting connectivity in the North East states.
UDAN is a regional airport development scheme which was launched in 2016 to enhance flight connectivity in regional and remote areas of the country, and also make the flight journey affordable. Under this said scheme, financial incentives are extended to selected airlines from the state, centre government, and airport operators to keep the fight fares affordable.
Referring to this development, the Ministry issued a statement stating that special focus will be given to connectivity in North East with routes from Guwahati to Tezu, Tezpur, Rupsi, Misa, Pasighat, and Shillong. Under the UDAN 4 scheme, people will also be able to fly from Hisar to Dehradun, Chandigarh, and Dharamshala. Routes from Varanasi to Shravasti and Chitrakoot have also been approved, whereas Kavaratti, Agatti, and Minicoy islands of Lakshadweep have also been connected by the new routes of UDAN 4.0.
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
Further, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri stated on Twitter, “UDAN 4.0 is ready to go. Seventy-eight additional routes have now been approved, taking the total number of sanctioned routes to 766.”
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
Regarding this, Joint Secretary of Aviation Ministry Usha Padhee said that the airports had already been developed by Airport Authority of India, and are given higher priority for the award of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) under the scheme.