780 New Air Traffic Routes Approved under UDAN

The Government of India has announced of late that it approved 780 new air traffic routes under the UDAN regional air connectivity scheme.

Key Points

1. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia informed the Lok Sabha that after the launch of the scheme, 359 routes have been opened in the country.
2. 59 new airports have been established under the UDAN scheme.
3. The Minister stated that the increase in civil aviation activities has expedited cargo handling services.
4. During the Covid 19 pandemic, cargo handling via airlines also increased from 2% to 19%.
5. The number of cargo operators in the country has been increased to 28.

UDAN scheme

Launched in the year 2017 UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) is a Regional Connectivity and regional airport development scheme of Government of India. This scheme was launched with the primary objective of making air travel widespread and affordable so that the common citizens of the country can afford it. This scheme also foresaw to boost job growth, national economic development and air transport infrastructure development across the country. UDAN scheme is a crucial part of the government’s National Civil Aviation Policy. This scheme will be jointly funded by the state as well as the central government. Under this scheme, lots of newly formed regional flight routes will be connected to the existing ones. Airports and ancillary infrastructures will also be developed under this scheme.