The government is planning to extend the regional connectivity scheme UDAN to provide affordable international flights to neighbouring countries, a Civil Aviation Ministry official said.
The government is planning to extend the regional connectivity scheme UDAN to provide affordable international flights to neighbouring countries, a Civil Aviation Ministry official said.
“The rethink is to enable state governments to use the UDAN platform for international connectivity,” Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey told a press conference at the Wings India 2018 summit, adding the central government will only facilitate the bidding process for UDAN International for which the money will have to be invested by the state government.
Choubey added the Assam government has expressed interest in connecting Guwahati airport with several South East Asian destinations and the state has taken a lead in ‘UDAN Version 2’ by allocating Rs 100 crore for three years for carriers willing to participate in the scheme.
While the government still has to work out details of UDAN’s international version, Choubey said, "It is for the government to decide whether they will fix a fare for the routes so to speak, or whether they will allow the fares to float in the market and allow minimum subsidy to be charged."
Bilateral agreements will be required with neighbouring countries and slots at their airports under this version of the scheme, reported Economic Times.
UDAN, an acronym for ‘Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik’, is a government initiative to bring flying in an airplane to the common man. In the the 2018-19 Union Budget, the scheme has got an allocation of Rs 1,014.09 crore, which is five times higher from the 2017-18 Budget allocation of Rs 200.11 crore for the scheme.
On the proposed sale of national carrier Air India and state-run helicopter operator Pawan Hans, Choubey said the government is expected to seek Expressions of Interest (EoIs) for Air India and Pawan Hans in the next fortnight. Following which, financial bids will be called for the same.
“We expect that the EoIs for Air India should come out possibly in couple of weeks. A revised EoI for Pawan Hans will also be coming forward around the same time,” Choubey added.
