UDAN: Regional Connectivity Scheme

India’s regional flight scheme puts its own target audience right in its name. UDAN means “Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik” — let the common citizen fly. This article covers how that scheme actually works.

Let The Common Citizen Fly

IndEco0115

21 OCT 2016

UDAN Launched

Conceptualised under NCAP 2016, to connect smaller cities

27 APR 2017

First UDAN Flight

PM Modi inaugurates the Shimla-Delhi route

JUL 2026

679 Routes Live

Across 95 airports, heliports and water aerodromes

MAR 2026

Modified UDAN Approved

₹28,840 crore, a new 10-year vision to 2035-36

The pattern: UDAN moved from policy line to a real flight in under a year, then kept scaling until it became a permanent, decade-long infrastructure commitment.

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📑 Contents

1Timeline
2Must Know
3Good to Know
4Test Yourself
5Great to Know
6Current Affairs

Timeline

On 21 October 2016, UDAN launched, conceptualised under NCAP 2016, with a 10-year vision to connect Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
On 27 April 2017, the first UDAN flight took off. PM Modi inaugurated the Shimla-Delhi route.
By July 2026, UDAN had 679 routes operational, across 95 airports, heliports, and water aerodromes.
In March 2026, the Cabinet approved Modified UDAN. It commits ₹28,840 crore over ten years, from FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36.

Must Know

UDAN stands for “Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik,” meaning let the common citizen fly. It is India’s regional air-connectivity scheme.
UDAN uses Viability Gap Funding (VGF), government support that covers the difference when a route isn’t commercially viable on its own.
Airlines flying subsidised UDAN routes must sell a set share of seats at capped fares, keeping short regional flights affordable.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) implements UDAN on the ground.

Good to Know

As of July 2026, UDAN has carried over 1.66 crore passengers, across more than 3.41 lakh flights, since it launched.
Modified UDAN plans to develop 100 additional aerodromes and build 200 helipads, backed by over ₹12,000 crore in aerodrome investment alone.
UDAN also revives old, unused airstrips, not just new ones, bringing previously served but abandoned airports back into service.

Test Yourself

Great to Know

Naming a scheme after its own target audience, “the common citizen,” is unusual for Indian government policy. Most schemes get an acronym or a place name, not a direct promise to the beneficiary.
Moving from a policy announcement in June 2016 to an actual flight by April 2017 was unusually fast for a subsidy scheme. Most infrastructure programmes take years longer to reach an operating route.
UDAN’s 2026 extension into a full ten-year framework marks a real shift. It has graduated from a pilot programme into a permanent pillar of India’s infrastructure policy.

Current Affairs

The Regional Connectivity Scheme, UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), launched in October 2016. Over its first nine years, it operationalised 679 routes across 95 airports, heliports, and water aerodromes. (Source: PIB, 17 Jul 2026 backgrounder)
As of 15 July 2026, UDAN has run over 3.58 lakh flights, serving more than 1.68 crore passengers. (Source: PIB)
Modified UDAN also adds an Operation and Maintenance support component, worth ₹2,577 crore. It covers about 441 aerodromes for three years, capped at ₹3.06 crore a year per airport. (Source: PIB)
Total Viability Gap Funding under Modified UDAN comes to ₹10,043 crore, spread over ten years. (Source: PIB)
UDAN funds itself partly through a first-of-its-kind RCS levy — a small fee on select domestic flights, rather than relying purely on the public budget. (Source: PIB)
Jodhpur Airport’s new terminal spans 23,342 square metres. It can handle 1,500 passengers an hour, and 20 lakh passengers a year, through six aerobridges. (Source: PIB)
On 16 July 2026, Minister Ram Mohan Naidu flagged off Daman’s first-ever direct flight, from the new NAMO Airport, on the Daman-Delhi-Daman route. Alliance Air operates the route. (Source: PIB)
NAMO Airport, built at the Indian Coast Guard Air Station for ₹124 crore, cuts Daman-Delhi travel time from 8-10 hours to just 2.5 hours. It can handle 14 ATR flights a day. (Source: PIB)
On 16 July 2026, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu inaugurated a stakeholder workshop on Modified UDAN, at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. He also released the full scheme document. (Source: PIB)
Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support for airline operators now runs 5 years instead of 3. It tapers from 75% of the awarded VGF in Year 3, down to 25% in Year 5. (Source: PIB)
Airport development funding rises to about ₹12,159 crore, for 100 airports over the next 10 years. A further ₹3,661 crore is set aside for 200 new helipads, in hilly, northeastern, and aspirational districts. (Source: PIB)
India’s airport count grew from 65 in 2001 to 74 in 2014, then to 164 today. That’s 90 new airports in the last 12 years, including 55 revived unused airstrips. (Source: PIB)
Under Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the scheme adds 2 HAL Dhruv helicopters and 2 HAL Dornier aircraft for regional operators. (Source: PIB)
4 July 2026: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches “Viksit UDAN,” the next phase of the UDAN regional connectivity scheme. He also inaugurates a new terminal building at Jodhpur Airport at the same event. This follows the Cabinet’s March 2026 approval of the Modified UDAN scheme, with its ₹28,840 crore outlay. (Source: DD News)