This year, the government has unveiled plans to launch twelve new airports in eight states and union territories, part of 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.
The UDAN scheme, launched in 2016, has so far launched 579 routes, connecting 85 airports (seven heliports and two water aerodromes). Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol gave this information 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 said revival and upgradation of airports with defunct or missing services would be done based on valid bids and awards given to selected airline operators.
Apart from Shibpur, other airports under the UDAN scheme include Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh), Rewa and Datia (Madhya Pradesh), Amravati and Solapur (Maharashtra), Daman (Daman and Diu), Ambala (Haryana), Moradabad and Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Vellore and Neyveli (Tamil Nadu).
Mohol said to Financial Express.”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,”
He added that Rs 4,073 crore would be spent by June 30, 2024, to revive and develop the airports in the first phase.