Eight Glorious Years of UDAN

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu along with MoCA Secretary and senior officials celebrated eight successful years of UDAN – Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik. The scheme has achieved significant milestones in advancing remote and regional connectivity.

The Minister, in his address, emphasised that UDAN has revolutionised the air travel connecting the remote parts of India to global destinations. Under the scheme, 601 routes and 86 airports are operationalised, and 1,44,00,000 passengers till now have been benefitted from the scheme. So far, the RCS-UDAN has facilitated travel of more than 144 lakh passengers, demonstrating its success in enhancing air travel accessibility.

The RCS-UDAN is contributing to the growth of the civil aviation industry as many new and successful airlines have come up in the last seven years. The scheme has helped airline operators to start up and develop a sustainable business model. Additionally, it’s providing opportunities to small regional airlines Flybig, Star Air, IndiaOne Air and Fly91 to scale up their businesses and their successful run is evidence of the fact that the scheme is creating an amiable ecosystem conducive to airline business.

The scheme’s incremental expansion has generated an escalating demand for new aircraft, concurrently broadening the spectrum of aircraft deployed. This augmentation encompasses a comprehensive range of aircraft and encompasses helicopters, seaplanes, propeller planes, and jet planes. The heightened demand for aircraft is substantiated by Indian carriers’ orders, which exceed 1,000 aircraft slated for delivery over the next 10-15 years, representing a significant augmentation of India’s existing fleet, which currently comprises approximately 800 planes operated by various airlines.