Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced measures to improve regional air connectivity in Union Budget 2023-24.
She said 50 additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advance landing grounds will be revived.
This move is expected to further push the ongoing UDAN scheme which aims to improve regional connectivity across the country.
“50 additional airports, aerodromes and helipads as well as water routes would be built to enhance connectivity,” Sitharaman said.
Besides, she said that 100 critical transport infrastructure projects, for last and first mile connectivity for ports, coal, steel, fertiliser, and food grains sectors have been identified.
“They will be taken up on priority with investment of Rs 75,000 crore, including Rs 15,000 crore from private sources,” she added.
UDAN flights have transported almost close to 1.15 crore people in the last six years.
In her first address to the joint sitting of Parliament on Tuesday, President Droupadi Murmu said the country’s aviation sector is growing rapidly.
“Up to 2014, the number of airports in the country was 74, it has now increased to 147. Today India has become the third-largest aviation market in the world. The UDAN Yojana has played an important role in this regard,” she had said.
“A very well thought and very futuristic approach by the Finance Minister in this field. Not only 50 additional airports augment the need for enhanced air connectivity but it will lead to the creation of thousands of Jobs both directly and indirectly. It will provide ample opportunities for further aviation domains to grow and meet the expectations of the Indian population,” said Dr. Arun Lohiya, Chief Operating Officer, CAD Ventures Pvt Ltd.
Ahead of the Budget announcements, the Economic Survey claimed that the country’s civil aviation sector has “great potential” owing to growing demand from the middle class, higher disposable incomes and favourable demographics, while air travel has rebounded with the lifting of the coronavirus pandemic-related curbs.
The survey for 2022-23, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, listed various factors that are helping the civil aviation sector, including the UDAN scheme, which has considerably enhanced regional connectivity through the opening of airports in the hinterland.
Under the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme, which is aimed to facilitate/ stimulate regional air connectivity by making it affordable, the total number of tourism routes has increased to 59 and presently, 51 are operational.
“The civil aviation sector in India has great potential owing to growing demand from the middle class, growth in population and tourism, higher disposable incomes, favourable demographics, and greater penetration of aviation infrastructure,” the survey stated.
With the containment of Covid-19 infections and the lifting of travel restrictions worldwide, the survey said, air travel has rebounded.
While in FY21, there was a considerable decline in air traffic — a fall of 54 per cent — and passenger traffic handled — a decrease of 66 per cent — last financial year witnessed a recovery.
