The government's UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik) scheme aimed at enhancing regional air connectivity through fiscal support and infrastructure development, seems to have hit an air pocket. As of May 31, 2021, only 47 percent of the total routes and 39 percent of the airports have been functionalized d under UDAN. The number of new RCS routes which started operations increased at a healthy pace and stood at 102 and 120 routes in FY2019 and FY2020 respectively, have declined to 77 new routes in FY21 due to pandemic. During FY2018 - FY2021, a total of Rs 3,350 crores have been incurred by the Central Government towards the UDAN scheme and the budgeted outlay for FY2022 is Rs 1,130 crores.

Giving more insights, Shubham Jain, SVP & Group Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA, said that the slow progress of UDAN implementation is attributable to delayed up-gradation of infrastructure and readiness of airports, due to lack of adequate right of way (including insufficient runway lengths) at some of the RCS airports and delays in securing necessary regulatory approvals.

"Low demand on few routes awarded, adverse and unpredictable weather conditions leads to inconsistent operations and have also resulted in the closure of operations by some airlines in a few cases. The second wave of the pandemic, which started from mid of March 2021 would further impact the UDAN scheme going forward with aviation being one of the worst-hit infrastructure sectors," he said. The Civil Aviation Ministry has set a target of operationalizing as many as underserved 100 airports.

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