GOVERNMENT EASES UDAN REQUIREMENTS

NEWDELHI: The civil aviation ministry has acceded to a request from some airlines that will allow them to potentially ply bigger aircraft on regional Udan routes and also be more flexible in how they integrate such routes into their overall operations.

Udan—or Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik, which loosely translates as “let the common man fly”—is a subsidy scheme that encourages airlines to fly to underserved airports at low fares. The airlines have to sell a certain number of seats (between nine and 40 currently) on such flights at a maximum of ₹2,500 per hour of flying. In return, they receive a subsidy from the government.

The changes agreed to by the ministry were prompted by the need for airlines to have greater network and commercial flexibility, a government official said, asking not to be identified.

This has been provided for in the new bidding round that starts this month. One change is that airlines can now make the Udan destination part of a hop flight. For instance, if the destination is Kanpur, they can use the seats declared on a one-stop flight, say a Mumbai-Delhi-Kanpur flight or a Delhi-Kanpur-Kolkata one.

To make sure the purpose of connectivity is not diluted, the airline will have to declare 70% of seats on any such flight as Udan seats, irrespective of the kind of aircraft. They will, however, only be paid subsidy for a maximum of 40 seats. Typically, airlines use small 70-seat planes for regional flights, but some underserved airports can also handle bigger aircraft.