780 New Air Traffic Routes Approved under UDAN

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

Key Points

• Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia informed the Lok Sabha that after the launch of the scheme, 359 routes has been opened in the country.
• 59 new airports have been established under the UDAN scheme.
• The Minister stated that with the increase in civil aviation activities, cargo handling services have also developed by leaps and bounds.
• During the Covid pandemic, cargo handling via airlines also increased from 2% to 19%.
• 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 making air travel widespread and affordable so that the common citizen of the country can afford it. This scheme also envisaged to boost job growth, national economic development and air transport infrastructure development across the country. UDAN scheme is a very important 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 a lot newly formed regional flight routes will be connected to the existing ones. Airports and other related infrastructures will also be developed under this scheme.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2021