Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (27 April) flagged off the first UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) flight from Shimla under the government’s ambitious Regional Connectivity Scheme, a mechanism to provide people with cheaper flying options to smaller cities.
It is a one-of-its-kind scheme to provide internal connectivity to small cities. The minimum amount for a one-hour flight has been capped at an all-inclusive price of Rs 2,500 for 500km.
“Air travel is now not just for the rich, I want air travel to be for all,” PM Modi said after flagging off flights from Jubbarhatti, an airport in the suburbs of Shimla to Delhi.
Modi flagged off flights on three routes —Shimla-Delhi, Kadapa-Hyderabad and Nanded-Hyderabad. “My dream was to see a person who wears a hawai chappal (slippers) to fly on the hawai jahaaz (aircraft),” he said.
Ticket prices for longer routes will vary according to the time duration. An individual will be allowed to buy 9 to 40 seats on a single flight. The UDAN scheme will allow five companies to operate flights on 128 routes that will connect 70 airports across the country. The operators will include SpiceJet, Air Odisha, Air India subsidiary Alliance Air, TruJet, and Turbo Megha, among others.
The airlines will need to block only half of the cheaper tickets. The rest half of the tickets can be sold at market prices but the airlines don’t seem too happy with the proposed arrangement. The government has planned to connect 44 airports in various small cities with metros, most of which are left stranded due to low demand.
India’s civil aviation is a growing market seen as the brightest sectors in the near future and UDAN is an important part of National Civil Aviation Policy which was released in June 2015 by the ministry of civil aviation.
BW Reporters
The author is a correspondent with BW Businessworld with keen interest in HR and employee welfare.
