Soon, the flights would take off from ludhiana, Pathankot, and Adampur airports as the Punjab Government on Thursday signed a tripartite agreement with the Centre and Airports Authority of India (AAI) under the country's flagship programme UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik).
The tripartite agreement was signed by Union Civil Aviation Ministry’s Joint Secretary Usha Padhee on behalf of the Centre, Punjab Civil Aviation Secretary Tejveer Singh for Punjab Government and AAI’s executive director GK Chaukiyal for AAI in the presence of the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh at his residence, said a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office. Capt Amarinder lauded the initiative, saying that it will give a major boost to the local trade and industry, especially in ludhiana, besides helping the State explore untapped commercial potential in the border areas to create huge job opportunities for the State's unemployed youth.
UDAN, a regional connectivity scheme, is Centre’s innovative programme in collaboration with the States, which enables air operations on unserved routes connecting regional areas and promotes balanced growth, besides making flying affordable for masses.
The four airports of Bathinda, ludhiana, Pathankot and Adampur have been connected under the scheme through five proposals.
While Delhi-Bathinda-Delhi by Alliance Air is already operational, Delhi-Pathankot-Delhi and Delhi-ludhiana-Delhi routes will be serviced by Alliance Air from July this year.
In addition, Delhi-Adampur-Delhi route by Spicejet will be operationalised by August, and Delhi-ludhiana-Delhi by Deccan will become operational by September, the spokesperson said.
Approximately, one lakh seats will be made available to passengers under the scheme, wherein 50 per cent, that is 50,000 seats, will be under fare cap (which is concessional fares). Requirement of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) will be shared by Central Government and the State Government in 80:20 ratio. The VGF for the State share will be around `3 crore per annum.
Routes under UDAN are selected through a transparent bidding process. During first round of bidding, 27 proposals have so far been awarded. The scheme has large outreach and all regions have been connected (Northern region 17, Southern 11, North Eastern 6, Western 24 and Eastern 12), Padhee informed the Chief Minister, giving details of the flagship programme.