Bids invited for Udan’s global fligh

Why in the news ?
  • Government has invited proposals from interested air operators for the international version of its ‘Udan’ (Ude Desk Ka Aam Nagrik scheme.
  • The government is working on another version of the scheme which seeks to enhance air connectivity from India to select overseas destinations.
More in the news
  • Government took this step despite the domestic format of the scheme failing to yield desired results.
  • Almost half of the routes approved in the first phase of the bidding for the scheme still to be launched.
  • National airports operator AAI, which has been mandated to implement the international version of the Udan scheme, has invited “e-proposals (bids) from international bidders.
UDAN scheme
  • The UDAN Scheme aims at providing connectivity to un-served and under-served airports of the country through revival of existing airstrips and airport.
  • The regional connectivity scheme will be applicable on route length between 200 to 800 km with no lower limit set for hilly, remote, island and security sensitive regions.
  • The scheme will provide  an airfare cap of Rs 2,500/hr of flying.
  • The Central government will provide concessions to the tune of 2 per cent excise on Value Added Tax (VAT) and service tax at 1/10th the rate and liberal code sharing for regional connectivity scheme airports.
  • For balanced regional growth, allocations will be spread equitably across 5 regions - North, West, South, East and North East with a cap of 25 percent.
  • Market-based reverse bidding mechanism to determine least Viability Gap Funding to select the airline operator with the right to match to the initial proposer.
Source
The Hindu, Indian Express



Posted by Jawwad Kazi on 15th Oct 2018