First UDAN flight takes off in Shimla

Prided at being a ‘global first initiative’ UDAN – Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday flagged off the maiden flight under the Regional Connectivity Scheme.

The first flight of the initiative that began last year was from Shimla to New Delhi.

PM Modi has also flagged off a flight on the Kadapa to Hyderabad and Nanded to Hyderabad today under UDAN.

The Prime Minister Office official twitter handle tweeted, “UDAN scheme is going to help tourism sector in Himachal Pradesh.”

UDAN Scheme is going to help tourism sector in Himachal Pradesh: PM @narendramodi

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 27, 2017

Earlier aviation was considered to be the domain of a select few. That has changed now: PM @narendramodi

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 27, 2017

Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities are becoming growth engines. If aviation connectivity is enhanced in these places, it will be beneficial: PM

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 27, 2017

We had the opportunity to frame a civil aviation policy, which caters to aspirations of the people of India: PM @narendramodi

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 27, 2017

The scheme was launched in October 2016 to make air travel more affordable to the common man.

Under the scheme, the government sought to cap prices of flights covering distances of 500 km, approximately one hour, to Rs 2,500 and below 500 Km up to Rs 1,500.

On March 30 the government unveiled a total of 128 routes that connected regional areas to metros and other cities.

The initial proposals covered 65 airports, of which 52 were unserved and 13 were underserved airports.

Air Odisha, SpiceJet, Air Deccan, TruJet and Alliance Air had featured in the government’s UDAN plan.

These flights would connect airports spread across over 20 states and union territories including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Seeing as how there were 394 un-served and 16 under-served airports in India, Minister of Civil Aviation, Ashok Gajapathi, advocated affordable air travel along with improving connectivity to remote regions like North-East India.