New Delhi: About half of the routes operationalised under regional air connectivity scheme UDAN have been shut down, whereas 43% of the routes were discontinued in less than three years, reveals a reply by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to the Rajya Sabha.
The ministry said, since the launch of UDAN (Ude Desh Ke Aam Nagrik) in 2016, so far 679 air routes have been operationalised. Out of which only 348 routes are currently operational.
Of the 331 (48%) routes now discontinued, 165 (43%) could not survive even three years, the period for which the government provided support to the operators through Viability Gap Funding under the scheme.
The Viability Gap Funding has been extended for 10 years now under the Modified UDAN scheme.
Govt has cited low passenger demand, (inadequate) marketing efforts by airlines, (un) availability of public transport connectivity to the airport, distance of airport from catchment area among other as key reasons.
Almost ten years since the scheme was launched to facilitate air travel for passengers from economically weaker sections, about 95 airports, heliports and water aerodromes have been launched.
However, in another written reply to Rajya Sabha in December 2025, the government said that 15 RCS-UDAN airports had been temporarily shut down.
The govt, while explaining reasons, had listed, “completion of the three-year concession period,
poor visibility conditions, daytime runway restrictions at VFR-only airports, shortage of aircraft, leasing issues, temporary discontinuation by airlines,
novation of routes, and low passenger load factors” as factors leading to airports shutdown.