THoD NewsDesk, New Delhi: India has inaugurated 22 operational airports in three days under the Regional Connectivity Scheme(RCS) – UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik). The summer schedule will witness 108 operational airports.
UDAN is focused on connecting the unserved and underserved airports enabling strong connectivity across the country.
The route pairs of origin and destination airport were bid out.
Meanwhile, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has invested in airports where Selected Airline Operator ( SAO) was willing to start services leading to more operational airports.
The airline route was bid from a particular airport, reducing the airline’s costs and offering better routing options for aircraft.
However, some of India’s airlines will have a monopoly in 36 out of the 108 airports. This includes the stations like Shimla, Kullu, Agatthi where Air India Regional has been a monopoly operator for several years. Expanding on that, it will now include places such as Ludhiana, Pantnagar, Bilaspur and Jagdalpur.
On March 28, Indigo, India’s largest airline, started its operation by starting 14 new flights under the RCS- UDAN scheme.
In a press release, it is informed that they have started flights on various routes including Bhubaneswar-Allahabad, Bhubaneswar-Varanasi, Bhopal-Allahabad, Dibrugarh-Dimapur, Shillong-Agartala and Shillong-Silchar.
Under the scheme, financial incentives would be provided to certain airlines to encourage their participation.
