While PM green signals UDAN project, here's all you need to know about it

Lucknow: Sharing his dream of seeing slipper wearing people travel in flights, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the UDAN project at Shimla-Delhi sector on Thursday.

An abbreviated form of Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik, UDAN is an initiative of the Centre to enable small towns to have better aviation connectivity at cheaper cost.

While the PM has launched the scheme today, we bring you some facts that you need to know about the project.

About UDAN:

• Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) is an initiative by the government to connect aal the under-served and un-served airports of the nation.
• The project has been started under the Centre’s Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).
• The scheme attempts to tackle the financial issues of several airports.
• The first flight under UDAN is expected to start next month.
• As many as five airlines have won bids under the RCS and they will be operating on 128 routes which will be connecting 70 airports.

What are Unserved and Under-served airports:

• Under-served airports are those which do not have more than a flight a day.
• Un-served airports are those where there are no operations.
• Currently there are 31 are un-served and 12 under-served airports.

Also Read: UDAN will enhance the progress of small towns: PM Narendra Modi

Benefits of UDAN to your pocket:

• The scheme allows for reduction in travelling expenses.
• 50 per cent seats on each flight will come at Rs 2,500 per seat for one-hour travel.

States being covered by UDAN:

• The flights will be connecting airports spread across over 20 states and several union territories.
• Some major states and UTs among them are Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
• Some of the airports covered under the scheme include Bhatinda, Shimla, Bilaspur, Neyveli, Cooch Behar, Nanded and Kadapa.

Airlines operating these routes:

• Five airlines will be operating on these routes, including SpiceJet and an Air India subsidiary, as they have won the bid to operate on 128 routes.
• The Air India subsidiary Airline Allied Services has won the bid for 15 routes.
• SpiceJet has won the bid for 11 routes.
• Air Odisha Aviation won the maximum number of bids with 50 routes and following it were the Air Deccan (34) and Turbo Megha Airways (18).
• The carriers will operate 19-78 seater aircraft.