Flight take off at Chennai Airport. File
| Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj

The budgetary allocation for the regional connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) has been slashed by 60% after a record-high grant last time. The fund is spent on reviving unused and underused airports in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

The government has set aside ₹502 crore for the scheme compared with the previous Budget Estimate (BE) of ₹1,244 crore, which was also the highest-ever allocation for the scheme since its launch in 2017.

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The allocation in the Interim Budget marks a 40% drop from the Revised Estimate (RE) of ₹850 crore for this fiscal year.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech on Thursday said that the number of airports in the country had doubled to 149 since 2014, and that “expansion of existing airports and development of new airports will continue expeditiously” at a time Indian airlines have placed an order of more than 1,000 aircraft. However, this was not supported by allocation in the Budget.

As a whole, the Civil Aviation Ministry was allocated ₹2,300 crore, which is a 26% drop from the previous year’s Budget Estimates.

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Traditionally, the largest chunk of allocation for the aviation sector has gone to Air India, which continues even after its privatisation though to a much-smaller extent, with ₹1,158 crore set aside for the airline as the government has to service the interest on some of the remaining debt.

A debt of ₹29,464 crore was hived off from the airline at the time of disinvestment and parked in a special purpose vehicle, Air India Assets Holding Ltd, along with real estate assets. A part of this debt has since been cleared.

A sum of ₹57 crore has been set aside for the production-linked incentive scheme for drones and drone components, compared with ₹33 crore in this fiscal’s BE and RE.

New Delhi:

The government on Thursday said 499 routes have been operationalised so far under the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN, which was launched six years ago and has facilitated the travel of more than 1.3 crore people.

The scheme, also known as UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), is contributing to the growth of the civil aviation industry, as four new airlines have come up in the last six years and have generated demand for new aircraft, an official release said.

It is providing opportunities to small regional airlines — FlyBig, Star Air, and IndiaOne Air — to scale up their businesses and is also creating an amiable ecosystem conducive to airline business, the release added.

The first UDAN flight was on April 27, 2017, connecting Shimla and Delhi.

According to the release issued by the civil aviation ministry, 499 routes have been operationalised under UDAN, which has also facilitated the travel of more than 1.3 crore people.

Further, it said the scheme’s incremental expansion has generated an escalating demand for new aircraft.

“This augmentation encompasses a comprehensive range of aircraft and encompasses helicopters, seaplanes, 3-seat propeller planes, and jet planes.

“Presently, a diversified fleet, including Airbus 320/321, Boeing 737, ATR 42 and 72, DHC Q400 and Twin Otter, Embraer 145 and 175, and Tecnam P2006T, is actively serving on the RCS routes,” the release said.

Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said UDAN has unlocked the country’s true potential by promoting tourism, boosting trade, and empowering local economies.

India is one of the fastest-growing civil aviation markets in the world.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)