Increase in number of passengers under UDAN Scheme

More than 1.23 crore passengers have travelled on Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)UDAN Flights since the inception of the scheme. 148 Airports, including nine heliports and two water aerodromes have been developed/ operationalised till date. The list of Airports, state-wiseisat Annexure1.

The major factors for the delay in accomplishing the development/revival of airports/ Heliports & Water Aerodromes under UDAN areas under:

Inability of the State Government to make land available on time.
New entrants take longer time in getting Schedule Commuter Operator permits as they are not able to fulfill the requirements in time.
Clearances with respect to Coastal Regulation Zone(CRZ) and Environmental Clearances
Non-availability of suitable aircraft
Leasing issues of Aircraft, long lead time for delivery of small aircraft, difficulties in procuring spares from abroad
Airports, Heliports and Water Aerodromes under State Government or UT, PSU are sometimes not ready in time.

Regular monitoring of the progress of upgradation works and removal of bottlenecks in the operationalisation of airports is done toensuretimelycompletion.

This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation Gen. (Dr) V. K. Singh (Retd) in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.