Correction, 30 October 2026: This 2021 report confused new routes with new airports. The headline and opening have been corrected, and the unverified 36-of-108 monopoly comparison has been withdrawn.
THoD NewsDesk, New Delhi: On 30 March 2021, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced that 22 new routes had been operationalised under UDAN in the preceding three days. The announcement concerned flight routes rather than 22 newly opened 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.
The ministry’s announcement identified routes awarded to IndiGo and Alliance Air under UDAN bidding rounds. These are airline-service awards, not ownership of the airports. At the time, the ministry reported 57 unserved and underserved airports, including heliports and water aerodromes, connected through 347 UDAN routes.
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.
