UDAN takes Indian aviation to new heights
India's aviation sector achieved a historic milestone as 5,05,412 domestic passengers flew in a single day on November 17, surpassing the 5-lakh daily passenger mark for the first time.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced Union Budget 2018 today and a plan to expand the capacity of airports for the common man to be able to fly was presented.
The finance minister, during his Budget speech, said, “Even those who wear ‘hawaii chappal’ can now travel by ‘hawaii jahaj'”. Jaitley used the term ‘hawaii chappal’ to denote that he was talking about the country’s common man.
Talking about the expansion of airports, Arun Jaitley claimed that the government plans to expand the capacity of airports by five times to cater to one billion trips a year. The expansion will take place under the government’s air connectivity ‘Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN)’ initiative.
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“We now plan to expand capacity of airports by five times to cater to one billion trips a year,” said Jaitley as he talked about the expansion of Udan.
‘We will connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads”, added the finance minister.
The first regional flights – Shimla-Delhi, Kadapa-Hyderabad and Nanded-Hyderabad – under UDAN scheme was flagged off last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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