With flights under the Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme often hit by operational issues, Karnataka Industry Minister M B Patil informed the Legislative Council on Tuesday that he had requested the Centre to extend the duration for financial assistance under the scheme from three years to seven or 10 years to avoid the closure of airports.
Patil said he had written to the Central Government requesting it to invite new bids from eligible companies to continue flight operations or to extend the UDAN scheme. He was responding to a question raised by MLC Thippannappa Kamakanoor, who said the discontinuation by Star Air of the only flight operated between Bengaluru and Kalaburagi, under the scheme, had led to the closure of the airport in Kalaburagi.
“With the existing UDAN policy, the airports and their operations are unable to sustain. If the three-year threshold is extended to seven or 10 years, then it can help to sustain and expand the regional airports. Currently, the UDAN incentive is only for three years, and if the passenger flow doesn’t reach optimum, the airlines stop operations as the financial assistance stops. I have even discussed this with the Union civil aviation minister, and even the chief secretary has written to the Union civil aviation ministry,” he said.
However, the debate took a different turn after minister Shivanand Patil objected to the Government allowing flight operations at Bidar airport. Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre then said, “Whatever you want to say, say it to the Government.”
On December 11, the civil aviation ministry, responding to an unstarred question in Parliament, stated that the Government had identified 14 UDAN-scheme airports that are non-operational owing to factors such as completion of the three-year concession period, poor visibility conditions, daytime runway restrictions at visual flights rule (VFR)-only airports, shortage of aircraft, leasing issues, temporary discontinuation by airlines, novation of routes, and low passenger loads.
In Karnataka, airports developed or revived under the UDAN schemes are Belagavi (Rs 20.88 crore), Bidar (12.29 crore), Hubballi (Rs 37.69 crore), Kalaburagi (Rs 28.64 crore), Mysuru (Rs 41.40 crore), and Vidyanagar (Rs 5.99 crore). No money has been spent on Shivamogga airport.
The civil aviation ministry has stated that Kalaburagi airport was closed down after the viability gap funding (VGF) tenure and that it is eligible for re-bidding under UDAN. VGF is a financial support mechanism provided by the Government to make regional air routes financially sustainable.
In Karnataka, among the 71 awarded routes, only 33 are operational.