5 airlines win bids to fly 128 routes; link 70 airports

Minister Jayant Sinha says that government is close to a resolution with airlines over RCS levy

The government on Thursday said it was close to resolving a dispute with major Indian carriers over levying regional connectivity charges. It also unveiled a list of successful bidders and routes under the scheme, called Udan.

Five operators will operate on 128 routes and connect 70 airports, most of which are not well connected by airlines now. “This is a unique scheme, which is completely market-driven,” Jayant Sinha, minister of state for civil aviation, said. “Through a corpus of only Rs 205 crore, we will create around 1.3 million seats, which will kick-start the underdeveloped regional aviation market.”