NEW DELHI: The Government has launched the fifth round of the regional air connectivity scheme to further enhance the connectivity to remote and regional areas of the country.
Under UDAN 5.0, viability gap funding (VGF) will be capped at 600 kilometres stage length for both priority and non-priority areas, which was earlier capped at 500 km. Besides, no predetermined routes would be offered. Only network and individual route proposals by airlines will be considered, the civil aviation ministry said in a release on April 21.
Under the fifth round of Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) or Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), the focus will be on Category-2 (20-80 seats) and Category-3 (more than 80 seats) aircraft.
The release said the earlier stage length cap of 600 kilometres is waived and there is no restriction on the distance between the origin and destination of the flight.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said this new and stronger version of the scheme will raise the momentum, connecting new routes and achieve the target of operationalising 1,000 routes and 50 additional airports, heliports and water aerodromes in the near future.
UDAN 5.0 is here with “game-changing features to fly into the future”, the ministry said in a series of tweets. The scheme was launched in 2017.
