Question : Airfare Cap under RCS

(a) whether the Government has capped the airfare at Rs. 2500 for one hour flight under Regional Connectivity Scheme - Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (RCS-UDAN) launched in the country including Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government proposes to start flights from Phaltan, Forbesganj, Manpur (Abu Road) and Amreli airports under the said scheme and if so, the time by which it will be started;
(c) the details of non-functional and underutilised airports in the country including Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan from where the Government proposes to start flight operations under the said scheme, State-wise; and
(d) the details of airlines which have been permitted to start flight operations in the country including Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan so far under the said scheme along with the number of cities and routes where they have been permitted to start flight operations?

Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION (GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD))

(a): Ministry of Civil Aviation had launched Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) - UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) on 21-10-2016 to stimulate regional air connectivity for making air travel affordable to the masses. UDAN is a market driven scheme. Interested airlines based on their assessment of demand on particular routes submit their proposals at the time of bidding under UDAN.
While launching the Scheme in 2016, the Government had capped the Airfare at Rs. 2500 for one-hour flight under UDAN launched in the country including for Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan. However, the capping is subject to indexation as per the formula specified in the UDAN Scheme document.
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(b): Phaltan, Forbesganj, Manpur (Abu Road) and Amreli airports are available in the list of unserved airports in the Scheme document.
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Till fourth round of bidding under UDAN Scheme, no airline has submitted bid to connect these airports. If valid bids are received in future, same would be considered as per the Scheme Document.
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(c) & (d): The number of unserved/underserved airports in Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan figures in the UDAN scheme (UDAN 4.0) document (List is annexed) is 22 in Maharashtra, 27 in Bihar, 13 in Gujarat and 25 in Rajasthan. ;
Further, Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Implementing Agency, has awarded in total 948 routes across the country under UDAN. Out of which, 403 UDAN routes have commenced connecting 65 UDAN airports including 2 water aerodromes & 8 heliports, as on 31.01.2022.