Aviation: Fly to Ayodhya soon! Check other new routes in offing

Under the government's ambitious regional connectivity scheme, popularly known as UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), the holy city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh will soon find a place on the airmap of the country. A flight service is being planned from Faizabad airport there to Ghaziabad's Hindon airport, said a Hindustan report, adding that other districts like Agra would be connected to eight cities while Ghazipur will also be linked with two metro cities through air route.

Last week on Friday, Union Civil Aviation Ministry awarded 235 routes under UDAN, under which 18 air routes has been earmarked for seaplanes.

Announcing the third round of regional air connectivity scheme, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu had said that as many as 69.30 lakh seats would be added on an annual basis across the 235 routes, while over one lakh seats would be through seaplanes. 

A PTI report said that a total of 89 airports, including 16 unserved and 17 underserved aerodromes, would be connected under the third round of UDAN. 

Six water aerodromes connected with UDAN flights include Guwahati River Front and Umrangso Reservoir (Assam), Nagarjuna Sagar (Telangana), Sabarmati River Front, Shatrunjay Dam, and Statue of Unity (Gujarat), said PTI, adding that the 235 routes, include 46 tourism routes or those that connect tourist destinations. 

For UDAN 3, the civil aviation ministry had received 111 initial proposals and 17 counter proposals from 15 bidders covering more than 350 routes. 

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Notably, around 155 UDAN routes are under operation at present.