Union Civil Aviation Ministry invites bid for 392 air routes under UDAN 4.1 Scheme

On the first day of the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav', the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) proposed 392 new routes under its flagship scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) 4.1 bidding phase. An official statement issued by the Ministry read, "The bid document has been uploaded on the Central Procurement portal of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) inviting the bids from interested airlines. The bidding process is expected to be completed by six weeks." The aim of the UDAN 4.1 scheme is to link smaller airports, as well as providing unique helicopter and seaplane routes.

Union Aviation Ministry opens bid for 392 new routes under UDAN 4.1

Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary at Union Aviation Ministry, affirmed, the bids for those routes have been invited on priority under the UDAN 4.1 scheme that have not yet been covered. She asserted, "Following the four successful rounds of bidding, the special UDAN 4.1 bidding round invites bids for priority routes which have not been covered under UDAN so far. This bidding round also includes routes specially requested by the state governments/Union Territory administrations and earlier cancelled/terminated routes." She added that the ministry has observed a huge demand on many "Tier-2 and Tier- UDAN routes."

'Huge demand for Tier-2, Tier- UDAN routes', says Aviation Ministry's Joint Secretary

So far, 325 routes and 56 airports have been used under UDAN, which will celebrate its fourth anniversary this year. There are five heliports and two water airports included in it. According to the Aviation Ministry, under the UDAN 4.1, airlines would be given some operational flexibility in order to ensure that appropriate working models for connecting smaller cities/runways are in place.

The 'Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav' is being held across the country in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's invitation to all public representatives to take part in 75 national events over the next 75 weeks to commemorate India's 75th year of independence.

(with inputs from ANI)