The central government has prepared a blueprint to make air travel in India more accessible and easy. Under this plan, 100 new airports will be built over the next 10 years at an estimated cost of Rs 30,000 crore. According to Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, these airports will be developed under the Centre’s regional connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik). He said this while inaugurating India’s third ‘hub & spoke’ operation from Ahmedabad airport.
India’s third ‘hub and spoke’ service inaugurated from Ahmedabad
Union Minister Naidu inaugurated India’s third “hub and spoke” service from Ahmedabad Airport in Gujarat. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghvi were also present at the inauguration.
The primary objective of this new “hub and spoke” service is to provide direct and seamless connectivity for passengers from different parts of the country and smaller cities to international flights and destinations via major Indian airports. Naidu said that the scheme started with Varanasi and Amritsar, and the response from there was very positive.
Record expansion in the last 12 years
Sharing statistics on the aviation sector’s rapid progress, the Minister said the number of operational airports has risen from 74 in 2014 to 166. Over the past 12 years, on average, a new airport or airport terminal has been completed every 40 days.
He emphasised that the success of the past 12 years is just the beginning, and that the UDAN scheme has expanded the country’s air network like never before.
“While there were 74 airports in 2014, today we can proudly say that India’s map features 166 airports. Going from 74 to 166 set a record for the country. Over the last 12 years, we completed work on a new airport or a new terminal roughly every 40 days,” Naidu was quoted as saying by PTI.
Rs 28,840 crore budget for expansion
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the launch and implementation of the Regional Connectivity Scheme – Modified UDAN in March this year. The project has a total outlay of Rs 28,840 crore, with budgetary support from the Centre.
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