The government has received 141 initial proposals covering 502 routes under the second round of regional air connectivity scheme UDAN.
“Second round of bidding has received very good response. The 141 bids have come from 17 applicants,” Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said on Tuesday.
He added that between the first round of bidding under the scheme and the second round, roughly 80 destinations in the country would be covered.
The government’s UDAN scheme aims to boost air connectivity to and from unserved and under-served airports. The 502 routes seek to connect about 116 airports and helipads, including 49 unserved and 15 under-served airports and 24 helipads, the Minister added.
Stating that bidding under round two had been more “aggressive” compared to the earlier round, Civil Aviation Secretary R.N. Choubey said that for 58 routes, bidders had not sought viability gap funding. Under the scheme, an operator is entitled to receive viability gap funding if a fixed number of seats on the flight are sold at a fare of up to ₹2,500.
Counter bidding
On November 16, these proposals would be put up for counter bidding and the players in the second round are likely to be declared by the third week of December.
Under the first round of bidding, the government had approved 27 proposals for 128 routes to connect about 70 airports.
