One out of three or four routes under the UDAN scheme were “normally found to discontinued” or “intermittently operational” due to low demand, expiry of three-year viability gap funding or even Covid-led restrictions, the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia, told the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
According to him, the situation is dynamic in nature and “as demand increases, the routes are expected to resume”.
The Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) or UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) was launched on October 21, 2016 to stimulate regional air connectivity and making air travel affordable to the masses.
Airlines submit plans based on their assessment of demand on particular routes at the time of bidding under UDAN. Till December, 2021, 403 routes connecting 65 airports including two water aerodrome and eight heliports were in place.
The viability gap funding (VGF) was ₹681.28 crore in FY20; ₹325.60 crore in FY21 and in FY22 the amount (provisional) is expected to be ₹625.93 crore.