India starting flights to Vellore under UDAN scheme

Dhaka: The Centre would soon start a new route connecting Vellore under India’s flagship UDAN scheme, the country’s Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia said on April 8.

As many as 473 new routes have been operationalised under the UDAN scheme launched by the Centre to boost air connectivity in Tier-II and -III cities, he further mentioned at an event.

"In terms of airport, Salem airport has been operationalised (in Tamil Nadu). Vellore will be operational in the next couple of months. 14 routes of UDAN will be coming in Tamil Nadu," he said soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the new integrated terminal building at the Chennai airport set up at a cost of Rs 1,260 crore.

Scindia said under the UDAN Yojana 1.20 crore people have benefited who could never have dreamt of travelling in an aeroplane.

The Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme was launched as a programme to offer air connectivity in Tier-II and -III cities by the Union government.

Scindia said the new integrated building at the airport stands as a 'testament' to a new phase of civil aviation under the leadership of Modi.

“Civil aviation is changing and our country which had only passenger throughput of six crore (before 2014) has more than doubled in the last nine years to 14.5 crore per year across India," he said.

Scindia said the air passenger throughput also reached pre-Covid levels with 4.55 lac passengers currently travelling in a day as against 4.20 lac passengers.

Maintaining that the country had only 74 airports in operations for 65 years after attaining Independence, he said the government built additional 74 new airports, heliports and waterdomes totalling to 148.

"The Prime Minister is very clear in that direction. India has to move forward and upwards. We will build more than 200 airports, waterdomes and heliports in the next four to five years," he said.

Scindia referred to the disinvestment of Air India which had made the largest order in the international civil aviation history.