Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights covering 500-km distance: 10 things you must know about UDAN scheme

The Centre launched its ambitious regional connectivity scheme UDAN on Friday offering cheaper airfares starting from Rs 2,500. 

Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and minister of state Jayant Sinha announced the scheme which has been named 'Udey Desh ka Aam Nagrik'.

Here are 10 points you want to know about the scheme.

1. The scheme offers fixed all-inclusive fares at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights covering the distance of 500km and chopper flights of upto 30 minutes duration

2. There will be up to 40 subsidised seats in an aircraft under the scheme 

#UDAN will be remunerative for airlines operators, yet affordable for masses : MoS Civil Aviation, @jayantsinha pic.twitter.com/5Sxr6yFoeX

— Frank Noronha (@DG_PIB) October 21, 2016

3. The scheme seeks to provide air services between unserved and under-served areas as well as extending viability gap funding (VGF) through a regional connectivity fund. There are 394 unserved and 16 under-served airports.

4. The purpose of formulation of such a scheme is that regional carriers get the support they need both in terms of reducing their cost as well as in terms of viability gap funding so that they can serve tier-II and tier III cities.

5. The scheme will provide exclusivity to selected airlines on awarded routes. During the 3-year exclusivity period, no other airline operators will be allowed to operate flights on specefic UDAN routs

6. The government will follow 'reverse bidding system' for selection of airline operators. There will be two half-yearly cycles for inviting and evaluating proposals and identifying the selected operator.

7. Bidding will be done through an online portal. The registration process for the operators will begin from October 21.

8. A new category called 'Scheduled Commuter Operator' is being created under the scheme to bring in more operators

9. The scheme aims to increase the ticketing volume from 80 million to 300 million by 2022.

10. The scheme will connect 50 Indian cities in the next 4 years.

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