The Centre is expected to announce the next phase of its flagship regional air connectivity scheme soon. According to sources, UDAN 5.2 is in the works and will promote last mile connectivity in remote regions.
The latest phase of the scheme will award routes which will be serviced exclusively with aircraft of seating capacity of less than 20 passengers.
Sources revealed the 5.2 version is exclusively meant for aircraft categories such as ‘1A’, which can seat less than nine passengers, and ‘1’, which can ferry less than 20 passengers. The new scheme is expected to be announced soon.
“The scheme will promote connectivity to many air strips and airports which have shorter runways like Pantnagar, Aligarh as well as Advance Landing Ground (ALG),” sources said.
“This version will provide operational flexibility to small aircraft operators. Under this version, operators will be able to service a maximum of 40% of their annually quoted RCS (regional connectivity scheme) seats and a minimum of 10% in a quarter.”
The UDAN scheme provides a VGF (viability gap funding) component to carriers selected via a bidding process to operate flights on under-served or unserved routes.
“The quantum of VGF, the number of routes and air strips or airports are being finalised,” they added. The latest version is expected to increase the number of small aircraft in the country, which at present is less than 20.
Globally, such aircraft are used in Africa and Australia to connect far-flung regions. Most of these small aircraft types are manufactured by global companies like Embraer, Cessna and others. In India, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited produces a 19-seater commercial variant of its Dornier-228.
UDAN’s different versions have promoted the usage of specific equipment such as choppers and aircraft in category ‘2′ (20–80 seats) and category ‘3’ (more than 80 seats).
Sources said the bidding process for UDAN 5.1 is over and the routes will be awarded soon.
The 10-year-duration scheme was launched in October 2016, as part of the National Civil Aviation Policy. Till now, 148 airports, including nine heliports and two water aerodromes, have been developed or operationalised under the scheme. More than 12.3 million domestic passengers have travelled under the scheme.