Ministry of Civil Aviation – Review of 2021 | 168 Routes Under UDAN 4.1, 100 New Routes, 12 Airports Start Operations

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has shared its year end review of 2021 and said that the Indian government has made a lot of efforts throughout the year with a vision to improve connectivity across the country.

MoCA highlighted its achievements in awarding 168 new routes under UDAN 4.1, commencing 100 new routes, and operationalizing 12 new airports including three heliports.

Year End Review -2021-  Ministry Of Civil Aviation

1. RCS-UDAN : Fifth consecutive year of flying high

• Regional connectivity scheme RCS-UDAN entered the fifth year.
• Under UDAN 4.1, 168 routes were awarded during the year.
• 100 routes commenced as part of the vision to improve connectivity across India.
• 12 airports were operationalized which included 3 heliports.

2. Krishi UDAN- Seamless, cost-effective, time-bound air transportation for ‘Annadata’

• Krishi UDAN 2.0 launched on 27.10.2021,with aim to ensure seamless, cost-effective, time-bound air transportation.
• Logistics for all Agri-produce originating especially from Northeast, hilly and tribal regions of the country.
• Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Dept. of Fisheries, Dept. of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, DONER are coordinating for implementation of the scheme.
• Under the scheme, full waiver of Landing, Parking, TNLC, and RNFC charges for Indian freighters and P2C has been implemented at 25 airports from NER, Hilly and Tribal region and 28 airports from remaining parts of the country.
• 50% of Air Freight Charges and 50% of TSP charges of Cargo Terminal operators proposed for subsidiary.
• 7 focus routes identified to support region specific products like Lichi from Darbhanga, Pineapple from Agartala, etc

3. Drone : Commitment to make India a global hub for R&D, testing, manufacturing and operations

• Drone Rules 2021 notified on 25th August 2021.
• The policy aims to make India a global hub for the research and development, testing, manufacturing and operation of drones.
• To facilitate further growth, the Government approved the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme on 30 Sep 2021 for drones and drone components in India.
• Digital Sky Platform (DSP) has been launched to regulate the entire gamut of activities pertaining to drone operations as well as to function as a single window online platform to ensure smooth functionality of the applications.
• Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) Policy framework, 2021 has been released on 24 Oct 2021 to enable complex operations of drones and increase the overall safety in the UTM airspace.

4. Liberalized FTO policy to support growth of Indian Aviation Industry

• On 25 Sep 2021, AAI announced a liberalized FTO policy to support growth of aviation industry in the country.
• Under the extant policy, airport royalty was abolished, and annual fee was rationalized significantly for new FTOs.
• AAI issued award letters to establish Nine flying schools at Five AAI airports (Lilabari, Khajuraho,Belagavi, Kalaburgi and Jalgaon).
• With growth of aviation industry, opportunities for pilots is increasing- 787 Commercial Pilot Licenses(CPL) were issued during Jan-Nov 2021, an all time high.

5. AirSewa : A single window digital solution for all stakeholders

• AirSewa 3.0 made live on 02 Oct 2021 with enhanced feature of grievance redressal.
• New features include – Grievance escalation by users or on Service Level Agreement (SLA) expiry,
• Grievance transfer among stakeholders, Enhanced roles and permissions for nodal officers, Enhanced flight information and tracking of flights, Public forum for discussions, Mobile app for nodal officers.
• The service has been promoted extensively by printing AirSewa QR code on the boarding cards and tickets, promotion through Flight Information Display System (FIDS) etc at strategic locations at over 80 airports.
• Pending grievances on AirSewa portal has been reduced from 1,354 on 20 Jul 2021 to 59 on 15 Dec 2021 (96% reduction).

6. Disinvestment & Strategic Sale

• For Air India sale, share purchase agreement signed with Talace Pvt Ltd on 25th October 2021.
• Winning bid of Rs.18,000 crore as Enterprise Value (EV) consideration.
• Non-core assets including land & building, valued at Rs.14,718 crore, to be transferred to Air India Asset Holding Ltd (AIAHL).
• Entire disinvestment process carried out in a transparent manner through multi-layered decision making.
• PIM for the sale of Pawan Hans issued.

7. eGCA : An innovative step towards Digital India

• e-Governance in Directorate General of Civil Aviation (eGCA) was launched on 11 Nov 2021 with an aimof bringing about ease of doing business, transparency and automation of the processes and functions of DGCA.
• Under this initiative, services provided to various DGCA stakeholders such as Pilots, Aircraft Maintenance Engineers, Air Traffic Controllers, Air Operators, Airport Operators, Flying Training Organizations, Maintenance and Design organizations etc. are now available on the eGCA.
• Around 300 services of the eGCA have been implemented.
• This Single window platform will eliminate operational inefficiencies, minimize personal interaction, improve regulatory reporting, enhance transparency and increase productivity.
• Mobile app has also been launched for Pilots and Aircraft Maintenance Engineers to view their profiles and update their log books on the go.

Airport Monetization & Development : Steps toward smooth and affordable journey of AaamNagrik

• 6 airports including Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Mangaluru, Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram handed over for management under the PPP model.
• Under National Monetization Pipeline, 25 additional airports have been identified for monetization in next 3 years.
• Three airports including Kushinagar, Kurnool and Sindhudurg have been operationalized this year under RCS-UDAN scheme.
• Dehradun terminal was launched and foundation stone laying ceremony done for Jewar international airport.