Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik

UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) is an initiative undertaken by the Indian government to improve under-serviced air routes under the programme. All Indian states and regions will benefit from increased access to economical and convenient air travel as well as increased employment and growth in the country’s air transportation infrastructure. 406 of the original 486 participating under-serviced airports, 27 well-served non-RCS airports, and 12 inadequate regional operational airports with regular flights were operational at the start of the scheme. Nearly 425 under-served, and primarily underdeveloped regional airports in India could be served by the UDAN program’s development and operationalization.

Benefits of the UDAN scheme

• It is the goal of the UDAN programme to connect all of the country’s airports, especially those that are currently unconnected by air.

• For a one-hour, 500-mile flight on an aircraft or a 30-minute flight on a helicopter, the UDAN scheme has limited the cost to Rs 2500. One would be inclined to fly rather than take a long train ride if there were inexpensive flights available.

• It is the goal of the UDAN Yojana to boost regional aviation by boosting the profitability of routes that are currently underdeveloped in the region.

• No landing or parking fees would be charged by AAI, and its fee will only be 42.5 per cent of the total cost. Such flights are exempt from all fees, and the airports’ owners will ensure that they have access to whatever they need.

• The development of airports under this scheme as growth centres contributes to added economic value and jobs.

• A minimum of 9 and a maximum of 40 subsidised UDAN tickets would be required on UDAN flights operated by fixed-wing aircraft as part of the program’s requirements. In helicopters, at least 5 seats will be reserved. 

• Viability Gap Fund can be used to fund the addition of hundreds of new regional flight routes that are both economically beneficial and capped in airfare. There will be three rounds of route tendering, the last of which will be finished by the end of 2018. Because of the cess levied on flights servicing popular routes to key cities and because of extra benefits granted by various state governments, UDAN-RCS is now financially viable, thanks to the Viability Gap Funding made available by the Union government.

Viability Gap Funding (VGF)

• The financial viability of regional airports is not required as part of this plan, which aims to minimise the cost of aircraft operations and provide financial support in the form of viability gap funding to make routes financially viable. For the first three years of operation, VGF will be made available to pilots on a limited number of routes.

• The union government provides various code-sharing arrangements and reduced fuel and service tax excise taxes to make the flights profitable for commercial aircraft. Terminal navigation landing charges and landing and parking fees will be waived by airports, including those operated by the AAI and state governments.

Criticism

SpiceJet and IndiGo have accounted for the majority of successful UDAN flights, according to a detailed analysis by the operator. To avoid taking the Viability Gap Funding subsidy, these two airlines have chosen to use the programme to secure additional slots at congested Tier-1 airports and to establish monopoly status on routes. UDAN’s current design does not make commercial sense for small and independent operators who cannot take advantage of scale economies, as aviation consulting firm CAPA India stated would be necessary for the program’s success. According to CAPA India, “the prospects of failure of regional airlines operating older aircraft, distributed across several stations, without thorough demand assessment, and in the lack of a maintenance ecosystem are substantial.” Only tiny aircraft can land and take off at the vast majority of the 400 airports that UDAN plans to connect. Without small aircraft operators, UDAN will be unable to function.

The finance approach employed by the scheme was also a point of contention. Flights on existing routes were charged an additional fee to cover some of the costs of airlines flying on the new route, which didn’t go over well with those who supported it.

Conclusion

Taxi rides in India typically cost around Rs.10 per kilometre. Through the UDAN programme, the Indian government has proposed that one can fly for just Rs.5 per kilometre, making the dream of the average citizen a reality.

Flying is a lifelong ambition for nearly everyone. There is a universal desire to fly at some point in one’s life. The government’s UDAN programme is bringing this ambition to fruition for the common man. Nearly 60 lakh individuals have used UDAN’s low-cost flights since its inception in 2017. One million people will travel by air every year as a result of a new plan to connect 1000 routes via air transportation.