UDAN: Budget Strengthens India’s Regional Connectivity

The Budget announcement to revive 50 airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advanced landing grounds is a major boost to the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) in India. The government had launched the RCS-UDAN in October 2016 to provide air connectivity to unserved and underserved airports in the country and make air travel affordable for the common man. Since then, the scheme has seen remarkable success with 459 routes operationalised across 72 airports and two water aerodromes, and has served over 1.13 crore passengers in more than 2.16 lakh flights.

The current Budget has doubled the allocation for RCS-UDAN from Rs 600 crore to Rs 1,244 crore, in order to further strengthen the regional connectivity in India. This is in line with the government’s vision of making air travel accessible to the people located in remote and inaccessible regions of the country, who are otherwise unable to avail air connectivity due to the lack of airports and other aviation infrastructure. The revival of additional 50 airports and other aero-structures will not only boost the regional air connectivity but also provide a much needed fillip to the ongoing infrastructure development in the country.

Nine heliports have been developed and operationalised in the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand under the UDAN scheme, with Mandi and Rampur in Himachal Pradesh, and Almora, Chinyalisaur, Gaucher, Haldwani, New Tehri, Sahastradhara and Srinagar in Uttarakhand. This scheme is applicable for a period of 10 years, with the target of operationalising 1000 UDAN routes and reviving and developing 100 unserved and underserved airports, heliports, and water aerodromes by 2024. In August 2020, the Krishi Udan Scheme was launched to help farmers transport agricultural products and improve their value realization. Krishi Udan 2.0 mainly focuses on delivering perishable food products from hilly areas, north-eastern states, and tribal areas.

The Budget announcement of the development of airports, heliports, and water aerodromes has been praised by experts. Shamsher Dewan, Senior Vice President & Group Head – Corporate Ratings, ICRA Limited, has commented that the Union Budget 2023-24 has “reiterated its focus on improving regional air connectivity” and that it will “boost domestic air travel”. The Budget’s emphasis on promoting domestic tourism has been welcomed by Vinay Dube, founder and CEO of Akasa Air. He believes that the development of 50 additional airports and the strengthening of the air transport infrastructure will support India’s growing demand for air travel, and that it “aligns with our vision to strengthen India’s transportation system”.