Air Connectivity

Budget 2023: Govt to revive 50 airports, water aerodromes, landing grounds

The government on Wednesday said 50 additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advance landing grounds will be revived for improving regional air connectivity in the country. The announcement was made by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget for 2023-24. Over the past few years, the government has been taking various initiatives, especially the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme, to boost the regional air connectivity. "Fifty additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advance landing grounds will be revived for improving regional air connectivity," Sitharaman said in her Budget speech. Besides, she said that 100 critical transport infrastructure projects, for last and first mile connectivity for ports, coal, steel, fertiliser, and food grains sectors have been identified. "They will be taken up on priority with investment of Rs 75,000 crore, including Rs 15,000 crore from private sources," she added. UDAN flights have transp

Par panel pitches for seaplane policy to boost last mile air connectivity

A Parliamentary panel on Tuesday asked the civil aviation ministry to expeditiously formulate a seaplane policy and also instruct airports as well as airlines to provide assistance to differently-abled people to board an aircraft. The recommendations are part of the report tabled by the department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture. In March this year, the ministry launched the Small Aircraft Scheme (SAS), which includes the operation of seaplanes. However, the committee noted that the seaplane policy has not yet been finalised. "The committee, therefore, reiterates its recommendation that a seaplane policy may be formulated expeditiously in consultation with various stakeholders, which will provide last-mile air connectivity to the common people living in far-flung and remote areas of the country," it said. Chaired by YSR Congress member V Vijayasai Reddy, the panel submitted the report on the action taken by the government on the ...

Govt working on last-mile air connectivity to Tier-III cities: Scindia

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said the government is concentrating on last-mile connectivity to Tier-III cities to ensure democratisation of civil aviation in the country. Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Scindia said India has tremendous connectivity between Tier I-II cities. "What needs to be strengthened is last-mile connectivity to Tier-III cities. Our government is concentrating on last- mile connectivity to make sure the democratisation of civil aviation does truly take place in the country," Scindia said during Question Hour. The minister said the government is looking at the small aircraft scheme launched last year under which sub-20 seater aircraft are being used to provide last-mile connectivity. In the last round of UDAN -- UDAN 4.2 -- 132 routes have been awarded of which in the major sectors, 16 are helicopter routes, and almost 50 are seaplane routes, Scindia said. To a question on aerosports, Scindia said it is a new area and has .

Govt to increase levy for regional air connectivity scheme from January 1

The government will increase the regional air connectivity levy charged from airlines operating on major routes to Rs 10,000 per departure from January 1, a move that could push the airfares higher. Currently, the levy is Rs 5,000 per departure and the amount will further go up to Rs 15,000 from April 1 next year, according to a notification. To fund the regional air connectivity scheme -- UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) -- the civil aviation ministry has been collecting the levy from December 2016. As many as 451 UDAN routes were operational till November 1 this year and more such routes are expected to be added in the coming months. An airline industry official said the fares could rise by up to Rs 50 per person once the higher levy comes into force. As per the notification issued last month, the central government has decided to revise the levy and accordingly, the amount will be Rs 10,000 per departure from January 1 to March 31, 2023. From April 1, 2023 to April 30, 2027, the

Jamshedpur to be reconnected by air under central govt's Udaan scheme

The steel city of Jamshedpur is all set to have an air connectivity under Union government's Udaan scheme soon, a senior official of East Singhbhum district on Friday said. Air services between Jamshedpur-Kolkata and Jamshedpur-Bhubaneswar are likely to be launched from October 30 with a nine-seater aircraft from Sonari Aerodrome, said Additional District Magistrate (Law and Order), Nandkishore Lal. The Deputy Development Commissioner, Saurabh Sinha and Lal along with aerodrome officials, fire department officials, Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee representative and Traffic DySP Kamal Kishore held a meeting over the issue and discussed security and fire safety arrangements. "We have trained 49 security personnel to be deputed at the aerodrome and 12 of them have already providing their services," the officer added. Earlier airlines including MDLR, Vayudoot and Deccan Airways had launched flights to nearby cities such as Kolkata and Ranchi from Sonari aerodrome, with small ...

Enhancing connectivity between India, Bangladesh via NE important: Centre

Enhancing comprehensive connectivity between India and Bangladesh through the North East is an important aspect of bilateral cooperation and significant progress has been made in recent years

Policy on cards to expand air connectivity to far-flung areas, says Scindia

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday said his ministry is working on a policy on the use of small planes and helicopters for expanding regional connectivity. The minister was addressing a function here to mark the inaugural run of Indore-Gondia-Hyderabad flight under UDAN - RCS (Ude Desh Kaa Aam Naagrik - Regional Connectivity Service). Regional airline FlyBig is operating the flight. It was the first commercial flight to Gondia from Indore. "We want that with our policy regional air connectivity should bolster and reach far-flung areas. And for this, a policy for the use of small planes and helicopters is being tailored," Scindia said. He said Indore has been connected by air with 21 cities in the last eight months, which has pushed the number of weekly flights flying in and out from Indore to 445 from 308. He said that a lone direct international flight from Madhya Pradesh to Dubai had already been started from Indore, and efforts are on to run a direct .

Bengaluru emerges as air travel hub in south as connecting traffic doubles

Airport currently serves 74 domestic destinations compared to 54 pre-pandemic; most of the new additions are non-metro destinations

274 'UDAN' air regional connectivity routes operational: Civil Aviation

At present, the fourth round of 'UDAN' is under process

Russia meets Mumbai: Aeroflot, Ural Airlines to launch weekly flights

IndiGo and Vistara too are planning flights between Delhi and Moscow to tap growth in trade and tourism

Government gets 20 registrations for regional air connectivity

UDAN scheme will be in operation for a period of 10 years

SC raps govt on lack of air connectivity to Shimla, NE

It noted that private operators had been granted licences as 'largesse' and they were interested in 'lucrative' routes like Mumbai-Delhi