UDAN turns 10 with 1.72 crore passengers flown and Rs 5,091 crore paid to airlines

UDAN, the Centre’s scheme to put small towns on the air map, completed ten years on 21 October. Since its launch it has carried 1.72 crore passengers on more than 3.68 lakh flights, the Press Information Bureau said in a backgrounder issued on 20 October.

UDAN, short for Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik and formally the Regional Connectivity Scheme, began on 21 October 2016, and its first flight, from Shimla to Delhi, took off in April 2017. It has since opened 687 regional routes and brought 95 aerodromes into service; 17 of these are heliports and two are water aerodromes. Airlines are drawn to thin routes through capped fares, concessions and viability gap funding; by 15 October the government had paid out Rs 5,091.23 crore under that last head.

The next decade

The scheme’s next phase, Modified UDAN, was launched on 4 July 2026 with an outlay of Rs 28,840 crore spread over 2026-27 to 2035-36. It sets aside Rs 12,159 crore to build 100 airports on existing unserved airstrips, Rs 3,661 crore for 200 helipads, Rs 10,043 crore to support airlines and Rs 2,577 crore for three years of operating support at about 441 aerodromes.

States and Union Territories will nominate airstrips and helipads through a challenge-mode portal, and 21 memorandums of understanding have been signed between the Centre, the states and UTs, and the Airports Authority of India. India now has 166 operational airports, up from 74 in 2014.