The civil aviation ministry is working on an expanded version of the regional air connectivity scheme, UDAN, which will ease the entry barriers and reduce operational costs. The move is aimed at attracting new players.Fresh categories such as seaplanes, small aircraft, and helicopters will form part of the scheme, which will also focus on building low-cost regional airports.
Sources said the final contours of the scheme will be finalised once the new government takes charge next month.Availability of aircraft, high financing costs, and regulatory norms such as a dedicated, proven operational history, currently act as a barrier for players to get into this space.The new scheme will also look at streamlining the entry criteria for new operators of small aircraft in the category of 9-20 seaters.
The aircraft in categories such as ‘1A’ can seat less than nine passengers, and ‘Category 1’ can ferry less than 20 passengers per flight.It will also focus on boosting seaplane operations via fractional ownership.A separate cell to promote chopper operations in urban, semi-urban, and rural areas will also be formed.The new scheme will look at building regional hub airports in a phased manner.The overall idea, sources said, will be to reduce the average cost of regional airport operations.“At present, on an average a small, regional airport costs around Rs 7 to Rs 10 crore to run. The scheme will look at ways to reduce costs so that airlines will be able to offer affordable fares,” a source said.
UDAN scheme was launched in 2016 and has facilitated travel of close to 30 million passengers till now.At present, nearly 150 airports, including eight heliports, have been developed or operationalised under the scheme.
