The government has revealed plans to operationalise twelve new airports across eight states and union territories this year under the regional air connectivity scheme, UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik).
One of the new airports includes a site in Shibpur, Car Nicobar, Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Introduced in 2016, the UDAN scheme has operationalised 579 routes to date, linking 85 airports, including thirteen heliports and two water aerodromes. This information was shared by Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Murlidhar Mohol, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
“UDAN is an ongoing scheme where bidding rounds are conducted periodically to cover more destinations and routes,” Minister Mohol stated.
He explained that the revival and upgradation of unserved and underserved airports are undertaken based on valid bids and awards to the selected airline operators.
Besides Shibpur, the other airports under the UDAN scheme include Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh), Rewa and Datia (Madhya Pradesh), Amravati and Solapur (Maharashtra), Daman (Daman & Diu), Ambala (Haryana), Moradabad and Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh), and Vellore and Neyveli (Tamil Nadu).
“For the revival and development of unserved and underserved airports, heliports, and water aerodromes in the country, Rs 4,500 crore has been allocated for Phase I and Rs 1,000 crore for Phase II of the scheme,” Mohol said, reports Financial Express.
He added that as of June 30, 2024, an expenditure of Rs 4,073 crore has been invested in the revival and development of airports under Phase I.