(a) whether the Government has any proposal to include Kushinagar and Tripura under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) of UDAN scheme in near future and if so, the details and the present status thereof; and
(b) the details of the steps taken/being taken by the Government to operationalise it on priority basis ?
The Minister of State (IC) in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION
(Shri Hardeep Singh Puri)
(a) and (b): Kushinagar is covered under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik). Kushinagar-Gaya and Kushinagar-Lucknow routes were awarded in RCS-UDAN version 3.0. Memorandum of Understanding was signed between State Government of Uttar Pradesh and Airports Authority of India (AAI) on 05.03.2019 for handing over of Kushinagar Airport to AAI on ''as is where is'' basis including land on a nominal amount of Rs.1 (Rupee One). No bid was received under RCS-UDAN for unserved airports namely Kailashahr and Kamalpur in Tripura. However, if any bid is received in future for Airports in Tripura, same will be considered as per the provisions of the scheme document. RCS-UDAN is a demand driven scheme under which interested airlines are invited to participate in the transparent bidding process from time to time.