₹28,840 Crore and 200 Helipads: UDAN Is Rebuilt Around Infrastructure, Not Fares
The original scheme subsidised seats on routes that often did not survive; the modified version spends most of its money on aerodromes and helipads instead
What happened
Infrastructure schemes are usually answered by reciting outlays and phases. The analytically useful question here is where the money moved. The original UDAN put its subsidy into seats; the modified version puts roughly half of a much larger outlay into aerodromes and helipads. That reallocation is an implicit diagnosis of why routes kept lapsing — and diagnosing a scheme through its own budget revision is a stronger answer than listing its achievements.
Where the ₹28,840 Crore Goes
Modified UDAN — Allocation
Modified UDAN: roughly half the outlay to physical infrastructure instead of fares.
Source: Ministry of Civil Aviation; Airports Authority of India
UDAN — Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik — is the Regional Connectivity Scheme launched in October 2016 by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, implemented through the Airports Authority of India as the implementing agency.
●Its original design capped fares at approximately ₹2,500 per flight hour on 50 per cent of seats, with the shortfall met through viability gap funding financed by a Regional Connectivity Scheme levy on major routes.
●The first flight operated Shimla–Delhi on 27 April 2017.
●Phases expanded scope progressively: UDAN 1.0 (2017) covered 128 routes; 2.0 (2018) added the north-east, hill states and islands plus helicopter routes; 3.0 (2018-19) added tourism routes and seaplanes; 4.0 (2020) added water aerodromes and longer stage lengths; later phases extended regional links and helicopter and small-aircraft sub-schemes.
●The Modified UDAN, approved by the Union Cabinet for ten years from FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36 with an outlay of ₹28,840 crore, restructures the allocation: over ₹12,000 crore for 100 additional aerodromes; ₹3,661 crore for 200 helipads at roughly ₹15 crore each over eight years; over ₹2,500 crore for operations and maintenance support; and ₹10,043 crore for viability gap funding.
●It was launched at Jodhpur alongside a new terminal built for about ₹480 crore, and explicitly promotes indigenous platforms including the HAL Dhruv and Dornier.
The original scheme subsidised the seat; the modified one builds the airport. Roughly half the new outlay goes to infrastructure rather than to fares.
◎ In Simple Words
UDAN is a government scheme to make flying possible from small towns. It started in 2016 by capping ticket prices on some seats and paying airlines the difference, so they would fly routes that would otherwise lose money. Many of those routes later stopped. The new version, launched in July 2026, spends much more — ₹28,840 crore over ten years — but spends most of it differently: building a hundred small airports and two hundred helipads, and helping maintain the smaller ones. The idea is that airlines will keep flying if the ground infrastructure actually exists and works.
Factual Pointers
Practice · 2 questions
With reference to the UDAN scheme, consider the following statements:
1. It was launched in 2016 as the Regional Connectivity Scheme under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
2. Its original design capped fares on a proportion of seats and met the shortfall through viability gap funding.
3. The Airports Authority of India is its implementing agency.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Under the Modified UDAN scheme approved in 2026, the largest single component of the ₹28,840 crore outlay is allocated to:
Mains Practice Questions
"The reallocation of a scheme's budget is often its most honest evaluation." Examine the Modified UDAN scheme in the light of this proposition. (250 words, GS3)
Subsidy can close the gap between cost and affordable fare on thin air routes but cannot alter it. Discuss what would. (250 words, GS3)
Assess the case for public investment in helipads as against aerodromes in India's hill states and island territories. (150 words, GS3)
Essay Questions
Frequently Asked
· People also askWhat is the Modified UDAN scheme?
A restructured Regional Connectivity Scheme approved by the Union Cabinet for ten years from FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36, with an outlay of ₹28,840 crore. It was launched by the Prime Minister at Jodhpur on 4 July 2026, alongside a new terminal built by the Airports Authority of India for about ₹480 crore.
Prelims · GS3Its defining change is where the money goes: roughly half the outlay is directed to physical infrastructure rather than to fare subsidy.
SOURCE Ministry of Civil Aviation
How is the ₹28,840 crore allocated?
Over ₹12,000 crore for developing 100 additional aerodromes; ₹10,043 crore for viability gap funding to airlines; ₹3,661 crore for 200 modern helipads at about ₹15 crore each over eight years; and over ₹2,500 crore for operations and maintenance support to smaller airports.
Prelims · GS3Aerodrome development is the largest single component — a shift from the original scheme, where the principal instrument was fare subsidy.
SOURCE Ministry of Civil Aviation
How did the original UDAN work?
Launched in October 2016 as the Regional Connectivity Scheme, it capped fares at roughly ₹2,500 per flight hour on 50 per cent of seats and met the shortfall through viability gap funding financed by a levy on major routes. The first flight operated Shimla–Delhi on 27 April 2017.
PrelimsSuccessive phases extended it: UDAN 1.0 covered 128 routes, 2.0 added the north-east, hill states, islands and helicopter routes, 3.0 added tourism routes and seaplanes, and 4.0 added water aerodromes.
SOURCE Ministry of Civil Aviation
Why shift spending from fares to infrastructure?
Because subsidising seats did not change the underlying economics. Airlines flew routes for the subsidy period and often abandoned them, since thin traffic, absent ground handling, unreliable airfields and no maintenance capability persisted throughout. Infrastructure spending addresses the fixed constraint instead of repeatedly compensating for it.
GS3 · InfrastructureAn airfield without night-landing capability, fire cover or reliable fuel supply cannot sustain scheduled service regardless of how generous the fare subsidy is.
SOURCE Analysis of scheme design
Why do helipads feature so prominently?
Because at roughly ₹15 crore each they are inexpensive relative to airports and suit terrain where runways are impossible — hill states, islands and the north-east, where the alternative is a surface journey of many hours. They also enable medical evacuation, disaster response and administrative access to seasonally cut-off areas.
GS3 · InfrastructureJudged on passenger numbers this component will underperform; judged on access for populations that are otherwise unreachable, it may be the highest-value spending in the scheme.
SOURCE Ministry of Civil Aviation
What is the significance of the ten-year horizon?
Airport development, air traffic control provision, fire and rescue capability and route establishment operate on timescales longer than typical scheme cycles, and airlines commit aircraft and crew against expected policy stability. A commitment to FY 2035-36 gives operators a planning horizon that shorter schemes cannot.
GS3 · EconomyFor investment decisions, that predictability often matters more than the headline outlay.
SOURCE Ministry of Civil Aviation