Come January 2017, and you will be able to fly from Jamnagar to Ahmedabad or Allahabad to Gorakhpur… or so claims the government. The Modi government’s ambitious regional connectivity scheme (RCS) promises convenient travel between state capitals and remote regional areas, efficient business and trade opportunities, and profitability for under-served and unserved airports.
While launching the scheme, titled UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik), on October 21, civil aviation minister A Gajapathi Raju said, “UDAN is the result of the prime minister’s vision of getting ‘every hawai chappal wearing Indian to board a hawai jahaz’. We are cautiously optimistic about it.”
But can a country like India, where regional airlines have never really flourished, give wings to the aam aadmi in his hawai chappals? All said and done, it comes as a surprise that neither the Airports Authority of India (AAI) – the implementing agency for the scheme – nor the “interested” airline companies have conducted surveys to find out how many passengers are likely to take these flights and how much they will be able to afford.
26/12/16 Ankita Sharma/Governance Now
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While launching the scheme, titled UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik), on October 21, civil aviation minister A Gajapathi Raju said, “UDAN is the result of the prime minister’s vision of getting ‘every hawai chappal wearing Indian to board a hawai jahaz’. We are cautiously optimistic about it.”
But can a country like India, where regional airlines have never really flourished, give wings to the aam aadmi in his hawai chappals? All said and done, it comes as a surprise that neither the Airports Authority of India (AAI) – the implementing agency for the scheme – nor the “interested” airline companies have conducted surveys to find out how many passengers are likely to take these flights and how much they will be able to afford.
26/12/16 Ankita Sharma/Governance Now
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