Four more airstrips in Odisha will be added to the Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) 5.0 scheme in order to offer the ordinary man, even in tiny towns, inexpensive, economically feasible, and profitable air travel on regional routes.
In Odisha, it has been suggested that airports might be built on airstrips that are close to popular tourist locations including Baripada, Konark, Hirakud, and Malkangiri.
In its regional connectivity effort UDAN scheme, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) aimed to link more than 54 wildlife and tourist destinations.
While two airports, Veer Surendra Sai Airport (VSSA) in Jharsuguda and Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar, are currently functioning, Jeypore in Koraput, Rourkela in Sundergarh, and Utkela in Kalahandi were formerly listed under the project but have yet to begin operation.
A regional airport development and regional connectivity programme called UDAN aims to improve the accessibility and affordability of air travel for the general public in order to support regional and state-level air infrastructure development and national economic development.
As of August 4th, 2022, more than one crore travellers had utilised the benefits of this programme. Additionally, the UDAN programme aims to complete 220 destinations (airports, heliports, and water aerodromes) with 1000 routes by 2026 in order to connect the country’s unconnected destinations via air. 954 routes connecting 156 airports have been been awarded under UDAN.
The UDAN scheme, which was launched in October 2016 to provide air connectivity in tier II and tier III cities and lower the cost of air travel for regular people, is noteworthy. It was started to improve regional aviation connectivity from the nation’s underserved and unserved airports.
Prasanta Patnaik