Inter-ministerial committee to supervise UDAN; airfares and subsidy to be revised every three months

The central government has established an inter-ministerial committee to supervise the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik). The committee will be accountable for coordination among all stakeholders, including state governments, for the time-bound implementation of the scheme. As per a notification, it will have representation from the ministries of finance, defence, home, and petroleum and natural gas. Besides, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman, representatives of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, and officials of airlines and concerned states will be a part of it. Further, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has announced that the airfare and the government subsidy for airlines under UDAN will be revised every three months. While airfares will be indexed to inflation, viability gap funding will be decided after taking into consideration inflation, the cost of aviation turbine fuel and the rupee-dollar exchange rate.