The second round of bidding for 400 airports/ air strips under the Regional Air Connectivity Scheme (RCS) UDAN will happen in less than two months.

“The Civil Aviation Ministry is planning to announce bids for second round of RCS in two months. In the first round of bidding, 45 airports/air strips were covered and in the second round, 400 airports will come up for bidding,” Union Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey told BusinessLine .

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the RCS on April 27 in Shimla. On that day, Shimla-Delhi direct flight, Nanded-Hyderabad-Mumbai flight and Kadappa-Hyderabad flight operations will be launched. Later, 45 airports across the country will see inaugurals flights.

MoU with Karnataka On Thursday, the Karnataka government and the Civil Aviation Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding in the presence of Union Civil Aviation Secretary Choubey, Karnataka infrastructure development Minister RV Deshpande and Karnataka Chief Secretary Subhash Kuntia and C&I DV Prasad.

Deshpande said RCS (UDAN) is proposed to fulfil key objectives of promoting regional aviation development and make flying affordable to the masses, promote tourism.

Of the 45 airports which came up for bidding in phase one, three are in Karnataka – Mysuru, Bidar and Vidyanagar (Ballari).

Karnataka had identified 19 airports in the state: Chikkamagaluru, Kushalnagar, Karwar, Harihar, Ammasandra, Koppal, Bengaluru, Ballari, Bidar, Ginigera (Hospet), Hassan, Jakkur, Kolar, Mysore (Mandakalli), Raichur, Shahabad, Vidyanagar, Yadgir, Yelahanka as per RCS, said Deshpande.

Discussions with Civil Aviation Ministry are being held on the expansion of runway of Mangaluru Airport and other minor issues connected with Belgaum Airport, Hubballi Airport and Mysore Airports, he added.

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