Plane (symbolic picture)
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu made an important announcement on the occasion of completion of eight years of the UDAN programme. He said “Udaan” has turned eight years old today. ‘Udaan’ is Prime Minister Modi’s dream project. The success of “Udaan” is the success of the entire country. In 2014, there were 74 airports in the country, and now there are 157 airports. The first flight under ‘Udaan’ was from Shimla to Delhi in 2017. Today, 10,004.4 million passengers have availed the benefits of ‘Udaan’. Under the scheme, 2084,000 flights have been flown so far.
The Civil Aviation Minister further said that we have built airports in difficult parts of the country. 601 new routes have been operationalized under ‘Udaan’. ‘Udaan’ has played an important role in the economic progress of the country. Regional airports have changed the face of tourism in the country. Tourism gets a boost under ‘Udaan’ 3.0. The program starts with two flights from Darbhanga Airport. There are 70 flights departing today. We are building a new terminal in Darbhanga. We are working hard to further strengthen regional connectivity in the next 10 years.
Turning the dream of air travel into reality, today we celebrate UDAN’s 8th anniversary. 86 airports and heliports were upgraded, 601 routes were put into operation, and 280,000 flights carried 1.44 billion passengers. #summer is making Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik a reality for millions of Indians. pic.twitter.com/ZbABKCBlRs
— Ram Mohan Naidu Chinjarap (@RamMNK) October 21, 2024
UDAN program launched in 2016
The UDAN program was launched in October 2016. The goal of the plan is to increase regional air connectivity. It is designed to connect 72 airports, including underserved airports. One of the goals of the program is to make it affordable so that even people from small towns can travel easily. In addition, air services must be provided in places where flight services are less frequent or not available at all. Under the scheme, air tickets for a one-hour journey of about 500 kilometers are priced at Rs 2,500.
