Union government to operationalise 100 airports and start 1,000 air routes under UDAN scheme

Under the regional connectivity UDAN scheme, the Civil Aviation Ministry has targeted to operationalise as many as 100 un-served and under-served airports and start at least 1,000 air routes.

This was revealed by Union Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The minister also said that in the field of aviation, privatisation is required as it is not the government’s specialisation to run airports.

Puri also said that domestic flight services from Bilaspur town in the state of Chhattisgarh will start from March 1 under the UDAN scheme. The minister  was quoted in a PTI report saying that 56 airports have been upgraded already and over 700 air routes awarded, of which air-service has commenced on as many as 311 air routes under the UDAN scheme since it was launched in 2017 with a budget of Rs 4,500 crore.

Flight services on this line will start from Bilaspur airport from March 1. At present, a subsidiary of Air India- Alliance Air has been given the Bilaspur-Prayagraj-Delhi air route, the minister said.