UDAN airfare for Delhi-Shimla pegged at ₹2,500 now 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday flagged off the first Shimla-New Delhi flight under a government scheme, UDAN to boost regional air connectivity.

With the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), called UDAN or Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik, the government aims at connecting 45 unserved and under-served airports and make flying affordable by capping fares at ₹2,500 per seat per hour.

This flight is being operated by Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India. The airline has deployed its 42-seater ATR plane on this sector.

The Prime Minister also flagged off the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) flights on the Kadapa-Hyderabad and Nanded-Hyderabad sectors through video-conferencing.

Five airlines were awarded 128 routes under the scheme last month after a bidding process.

Under the UDAN scheme, the operators would be extended viability gap funding (VGF). The amount is estimated to be around ₹205 crore per annum for the operators chosen in the first round of bidding.

The state governments will provide a certain share of the VGF. Nineteen states and three union territories have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for this purpose.