As many as 115 million passengers travelled by flight in 2022 and of them, 85 million were domestic flyers, said Union tourism and culture minister G Kishan Reddy, adding that the Centre has "huge expectations" for 2023.
"Currently, we have 147 operational airports. The government has targeted to have 220 operational facilities by the end of 2024-25," Reddy said.
He added that the Centre has spent Rs 2,360 crore via viability gap funding on the Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme, under which, by 2026, about 1,000 routes would be developed. The UDAN scheme basically aims at regional connectivity.
Last month, Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia told CNBC-TV18 that civil aviation and tourism are two sides of the same coin. "Without tourism, aviation loses a lot of its shine and vice versa," he said.
According to the Vision 2040 document released by the Centre in 2019, it had intended to facilitate around a 1,000 air routes and establish around 100 new airports by 2025, including green field airports, under the scheme. Scindia had said that in around the last five years, the ministry has crossed 50 percent of the target on operationalisation of routes and almost touched 71 percent targets on airports. "We do aim to reach the 1,000 routes 100 airports target by 2024-25," he said.
First Published: Feb 13, 2023 8:52 PM IST
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