Affordable flight for common mass is soon going to be a reality as Government has received 45 initial proposals from 11 bidders covering more than 200 routes under Regoinal Connectivity Scheme .
UDAN (Ude Desh Ke Aam Naagrik) under the Regoinal Connectivity Scheme provides for various incentives to airlines with fares for one-hour flights capped at Rs2,500.
An official release on Wednesday said Airports Authority of India (AAI) has received 45 initial proposals from 11 bidders covering more than 200 regional connectivity scheme (RCS) routes.
“These initial proposals cover as many as 65 airports, of which there are 52 unserved and 13 underserved airports as per the provisions of the scheme,” the release said.
AAI is the implementing agency for the scheme.
Commenting on response to the RCS, Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju said: “The proposals represent a significant step towards the vision of connecting the un-connected and serving the un-served.”
“The scheme is likely to give a major boost to tourism activities and employment generation in hinterland and tier-II and tier-III cities,” the minister was quoted as saying in a statement.
Sources said that the first flight under the scheme is likely to begin in March and the award of routes in this regard is expected by mid-February.
While the deadline for submitting initial proposals ended on January 16, the counter bids for them can be submitted till February 1. After that, the routes would be awarded to bidders who quote the lowest Viability Gap Funding (VGF) requirement against the routes.
Under UDAN, the participating airlines would be extended VGF -- that would be jointly funded by the Centre and the State government concerned.
Towards VGF, the Government has started charging Rs8,500 levy per departure of flights on major routes.
Sources said the Civil Aviation Ministry is expected to garner about Rs35 crore every month from collecting the levy.
To ensure that operations on ground start with minimum time-gap after the bidding is completed, the release said, “parallel action” has been initiated by the Ministry with AAI, State governments, aviation regulator DGCA and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
The scheme is likely to give a major boost to tourism activities and employment generation in hinterland and Tier-II and Tier-III cities, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju was quoted as saying in the release.
UDAN, which would be in place for 10 years, was launched in October 2016 and seeks to provide connectivity to unserved and underserved regions through revival of existing air strips and airports.