The Ministry of Civil Aviation’s flagship Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) has been awarded Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration this year.

What is UDAN Scheme?

• The Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme is a low-cost flying scheme launched with the aim of taking flying to the masses.
• The first flight under UDAN was launched by the PM in April 2017.
• It is also known as the regional connectivity scheme (RCS) as it seeks to improve air connectivity to tier-2 and tier-3 cities through revival of unused and underused airports.

Working of the Scheme

• Airlines are awarded routes under the programme through a bidding process and are required to offer airfares at the rate of ₹2,500 per hour of flight.
• At least 50% of the total seats on an aircraft have to be offered at cheaper rates.
• In order to enable airlines to offer affordable fares they are given a subsidy from the govt. for a period of three years.

Success of the scheme

• In a short span of 5 years, today 419 UDAN routes connect 67 underserved/unserved airports, including heliports and water aerodromes, and over 92 lakh people have benefited from it.
• More than 1 lakh 79 thousand flights have flown under this scheme.
• UDAN scheme has immensely benefitted several sectors pan-India including Hilly States, North-Eastern region, and Islands.
• The scheme also led to development of new Greenfield Airports such as Pakyong near Gangtok in Sikkim, Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh, and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.
• Krishi UDAN Scheme launched in August 2020, on international and national routes has assisted farmers in transporting agricultural products.

Issues with the working

• Discontinuance: In reality, some of the routes launched have been discontinued as most of the routes awarded under UDAN are not active.
• On-paper Ambitions: UDAN was expanded to provide improved connectivity to hilly regions and islands through helicopters and seaplanes. However, they mostly remain on paper.
• The reasons include:

1. Failure to set up airports or heliports due to lack of availability of land
2. Airlines unable to start flights on routes awarded to them or finding the routes difficult to sustain
3. Adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Various challenges

• Lack of funds: Many small airlines await infusion of funds, to be able to undertake maintenance of aircraft, pay rentals to lessors, give salaries to its staff, etc.
• Maintenance issue: Many players don’t have more than one or two planes and they are often poorly maintained. New planes are too expensive for these smaller players.
• Availability of pilots: Often, they also have problems with the availability of pilots and are forced to hire foreign pilots which costs them a lot of money and makes the business unviable.
• Competition: Only those routes that have been bagged by bigger domestic players such as IndiGo and SpiceJet have seen a better success rate.

Way forward

• The govt offers subsidies for a route for a period of three years and expects the airline to develop the route during this time so that it becomes self-sufficient.
• Airlines need an extension of the subsidy period for their operational continuity.
• Due to the rise in COVID cases, travel restrictions and passenger safety too needs to be taken into consideration in the loss-making of such airlines.

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