Know more about UDAN scheme in 10 points

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated the first Shimla-New Delhi flight under a government scheme to boost regional air connectivity to which he dubbed as an attempt to enable the common man to fly.

Here are the prominent features of this scheme-

 1- The flight is being operated by Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India. The airline has deployed its 42-seater ATR plane on this sector from April 28.

2- The UDAN scheme targets regional connectivity with flights covering distances up to 800 km.

3- The government aims at connecting 45 unserved and under-served airports and make flying affordable by capping fares at Rs 2500 per seat/hour.

4-  As there is temperature,  runway length and restrictions, the aircraft will not be able to fly the total capacity of 48 passengers.

5- The airline estimates a total expenditure of Rs 4.06 lakh per return flight. However, the revenue it will be able to generate will be a mere Rs 2.64 lakh, including the viability gap funding from the Centre.Therefore, the airline has requested the state government for the balance amount of Rs 1,41,960 per return flight.

6- Over 45 unserved and under-served airports would be connected under the scheme -- UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik)-- that seeks to make flying more affordable.

7-On each flight, 50 per cent of the seats would have a cap of Rs 2,500 per seat/hour. Under UDAN, the operators would be extended viability gap funding.

8- Hyderabad -based carrier will launch flights on Hyderabad-Cuddapah, Hyderabad-Nanded and Nanded-Mumbai routes, the airline said in a statement in Hyderabad.

9-Trujet is one of the five operators who have been awarded 128 routes under the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme of the government.

10-Alliance Air, SpiceJet, Turbo Megha, Air Odisha and Air Deccan are five airlines which have been awarded 128 routes under the scheme.