UDAN scheme: Centre mulls helicopter services to hilly areas, islands

The Centre has proposed to start helicopter and smaller aircraft services to hilly areas, under the second phase of UDAN scheme, Minister of State Jayant Sinha said on Tuesday.

"Under the UDAN round 2, we have given special consideration to hilly areas, north-east, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and provide concessions so that we can operate helicopters as well as smaller planes in these places," he told reporters here.

Last month, the government had announced increasing viability gap funding for helicopter operators and allowing smaller planes, among other concessions, under the regional air connectivity scheme.

The second phase of UDAN seeks to connect unserved and under-served airports as well as make flying more affordable with fares capped at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights.

Hoping that there will be "better" participation from the airlines during round 2 of UDAN, the MoS for Civil Aviation said under the first round, the government was able to add around 30 new airports.

He said the Centre was also working on adding more international routes from southern cities like Coimbatore and Tiruchirapalli.

"Passengers wanted more international flights from Coimbatore. We are working on that. There is a demand for more international flights from Tiruchirappalli as well," Sinha said.
Referring to the Chennai airport, the minister said the annual passenger traffic was set to increase from present 20 million to 35 million in coming years.

He said the Centre was working on a greenfield airport for Chennai for which around 2,000 acres of land would have to be provided by the Tamil Nadu government.

Sinha and senior government officials were here to unveil the Chennai-Mysurudirect flight service offered by 'Trujet' under the UDAN scheme.

"We are very pleased today to start one more flight in our ground breaking regional connectivity scheme. I am here to launch the flight that will go from Chennai to Mysuru," he said.

PTI