Govt announces fifth bidding round of world’s largest regional air connectivity programme

The latest round of the Indian government’s flagship scheme to strengthen air connectivity will focus on Category-2 and Category-3 routes involving 20–80-seater aircraft and more than 80-seater aircraft, respectively.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation launched the fifth bidding round of the regional connectivity programme – perhaps the world’s largest such exercise – to expand air connectivity to the remotest areas of the country, a government statement said Friday.

This round of the Regional Connectivity Scheme-Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (RCS UDAN) will focus on Category-2 and Category-3 routes involving 20–80-seater aircraft and more than 80-seater aircraft, respectively. Notably, the previous length cap of 600 km has been waived off, with there being no restriction on the distance covered between the origin and destination of a flight being operated under the scheme.

Another significant feature is the enhancement in viability gap funding (VGF) to operators to 600 km from the previous 500 km for both priority and non-priority areas. Besides, no predetermined routes are being offered, as only network and individual routes proposed by airlines will be considered.

The airlines are required to submit a business plan two months after the issuance of the letter of award (LoA), where they would be required to submit plans related to aircraft acquisition or availability of aircraft, crew, slots, etc., for the technical proposal.

To prevent monopolisation of the scheme, no single airline will be awarded the same route, whether in different or the same networks. Moreover, MoCA will withdraw exclusive rights of operation if the average quarterly passenger load factor (PLF) is higher than 75 per cent for four continuous quarters.

In case an airline is unable to launch operations within four months of the award of a route, MoCA will deduct 25 per cent from the performance guarantee deposited by it. This clause has been added to ensure faster operationalisation of routes. Earlier, the deadline was six months.

The list of airports that are either ready or would soon be ready for operations has been included in the scheme to facilitate faster operationalisation of routes. The novation process for transferring routes from one operator to another has also been simplified.

Speaking on the latest bidding round for the scheme civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said: “UDAN has proved to be a lifeblood of many regions which are now well connected with places across the country. This new and stronger version of the scheme will raise the momentum, connecting new routes, and bring us closer to the target of operationalising 1,000 routes and 50 additional airports, heliports and water aerodromes in the near future.”

Launched in 2017, more than 1.4 crore passengers have travelled by air on subsidised tickets under RCS UDAN.