Siddhant Chandra and Ritika Negi | December 2024
India is the fastest growing civil aviation market in the world. It is currently the 3rd largest in the domestic market segment. In the last decade, the number of aircrafts is India has increased from 400 to more than 800 and airports have grown from 74 to 157.
The government’s ambitious schemes like UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) have enhanced regional connectivity. The scheme is meant to ensure that even remote areas are integrated into the country’s aviation network. This scheme is one of the most important components of the National Civil Aviation Policy. Under the UDAN scheme, the airfare for a one-hour journey by a ‘fixed wing aircraft’ or half an hour’s journey by a helicopter for about 500 km, has been fixed at Rs.2500/-. A total of 86 aerodromes— comprising 71 airports, 13 heliports, and 2 water aerodromes— have been operationalized under the UDAN scheme, facilitating the travel of over 1.44 crore passengers across more than 2.8 lakh flights. Since its inception, fixed-wing operations have cumulatively covered approximately 112 crore kilometres, roughly equivalent to circumnavigating the globe around 28,000 times.