Lok Sabha Question No. 3642 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-24
Subject: Routes under UDAN Scheme
Ministry: CIVIL AVIATION
Asked by: Upendra Singh Rawat

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CIVIL AVIATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3642

(To be answered on the

March 2022) 24t6

## ROUTES UNDER UDAN SCHEME

3642. SHRI UPENDRA SINGH RAWAT

## Will the Minister of CIVIL AVIATION

be pleased to state: -

- (a) whether the Government is aware that only twenty two routes out of the ninety four total routes have survived at the completion of the three years subsidy period under the UDAN scheme;
- (d) if s0, the details thereof and the procedure being outlined to make the rest of the routes and airports operational along with the time by which the same would be put in place; and
- (b) if s0, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard; whether the Government is aware that even after four years of the launch of the scheme, only forty seven per cent of the routes and thirty nine per cent of the unserved and underserved airports were operational by July last year;
- (e) the steps being taken by the Government to counter the lack of funds and nonavailability 0f land which are the main reasons for the low performance of the UDAN scheme?

## ANSWER

Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION

(GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD))

awarded 948 valid routes after completion of four rounds of bidding under RCSUDAN. As o 17-03-2022, 409 RCS routes have been operationalized by the Selected Airline Operators (SAOs): To encourage development of UDAN routes by airline operators; SAOs are granted exclusivity for operating air transport services flights on an RCS Route under the Scheme for a Of 3 years: Out of these 409 routes; 126 routes have completed three years of exclusivity. Subsequent to completion of the exclusivity period, any airline operator may operate flights o Till date about 90 lakh passengers have flown on the flights under the UDAN Scheme. period

- (c) to (e): There is a delay in operationalizing some routes, and also discontinuation of the routes, for reasons which include: -
- i) Adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic
- ii) Non-readiness of civil airports/heliports; which could be related to availability of land; creation of regional infrastructure; obtainment of   license from the Regulator etc.
- iv) Non-readiness of Selected Airlines Operators (SAOs)
- Unsustainability of the operation On the awarded routes

Airports Authority of India(AAI); the Implementing Agency has identified 154 RCS airports including 14 water aerodromes and 36 helipads s0 far under UDAN 2 water aerodromes have been operationalized under UDAN.

routes of UDAN and requires upgradation development for commencement of RCS operations, is developed under "Revivallupgradation of unserved and underserved airports/heliportslwater aerodromes Scheme. The Government of India has approved a budget 0f Rs; 4500 crore for revival of existing unserved underserved airports airstrips of the State Governments, Airports Authority of An amount of Rs. 2097.22 crores has been reimbursed by the Ministry 0f Civil Aviation to AAI till February, 2022 under the scheme: Accordingly an amount of Rs: 2402.78 crores is availabie under the Scheme for revivalldevelopment of Airports/Heliports/Water Aerodromes. Government has set a target to operationalize 100 airports from 2019 to 2024. The year-wise target to operationalize Airports/Heliports/Water Aerodromes is as under:-

2021-22 32

2022-23 20

2023-24 25

Under UDAN, incentives including VGF and other concessions are provided to the SAOs by the Central, State/UT governments and Airport operators to make the operations sustainable: the State/UT governments have to provide the land for revival/upgradation of the awarded airports wherever required as per the provisions of the scheme document: Also,

Six airports/heliports have been operationalized and five heliports/ airports are ready for operation in the current financial year. Revival/development works in respect of another six airports/heliports has been completed: