8 lakh people air travel at affordable rates in Gujarat

8 December 2024
The Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) – UDAN scheme has covered 7.93 lakh passengers from 6 regional airports – Porbandar, Kandla, Keshod, Jamnagar Civil Enclave, Bhavnagar and Mundra in 8 years from 2017 to November 2024.

The air routes include Mumbai-Kandla, Ahmedabad-Mundra, Ahmedabad-Diu and Surat-Diu, Ahmedabad-Keshod, Ahmedabad-Jalgaon and Ahmedabad-Nanded routes.

Civil Aviation Commissioner Dr Dhaval Patel said that ₹184 crore was spent on MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) and flight training, VGF, fire and security services.

About ₹184 crore was spent on 20% viability gap funding (VGF) and fire and security services at 6 regional airports from 2017 to November 2024. The infrastructure cost of regional airports is borne by the central government.

So far, 1.60 lakh passengers have traveled by air at affordable rates due to the state government’s VGF – Viability Gap Fund for flights operating on 5 routes including Surat-Ahmedabad, Surat-Rajkot and Surat-Amreli.

RCS-UDAN will resume air services from the Statue of Unity and the water aerodrome on the Sabarmati Riverfront. Additional routes will be introduced to connect cities like Vadodara, Rajkot, Ambaji and Palitana.

Under the UDAN-RCS scheme, 417 routes were to be operated in the country.