The Grand Plan for Regional Skies
India's aviation ambitions are soaring. The government has announced a massive plan to build 100 new airports over the next decade, backed by an investment of approximately ₹30,000 crore.. This initiative is part of the Modified UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam
Nagrik) scheme, a policy designed to make air travel accessible to the common citizen by connecting underserved and unserved regions.. The number of operational airports in the country has already more than doubled, from 74 in 2014 to 166 today.. The goal is clear: to democratise air travel, moving it beyond the metros and into the heartland. For anyone who has endured a 12-hour train journey for a distance a plane could cover in 60 minutes, this sounds like a game-changer.. The vision is to reduce travel barriers and boost economic activity, tourism, and access to services like healthcare in remote areas..
Building is Easy, Filling is Hard
Simply constructing a runway and a terminal is not a guaranteed fix for connectivity woes. An airport is only as useful as the number of flights it handles, and airlines are businesses, not public services. They fly where they can make money. Many regional routes struggle with low passenger demand, making them commercially unviable once government subsidies under the UDAN scheme end.. A critical report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found that of the routes awarded under the first three phases of UDAN, more than half couldn't even commence operations.. Of those that did start, only a small fraction could sustain themselves after the three-year subsidy period was over.. This creates a pattern of 'ghost airports'—brand new infrastructure that sits empty because airlines have quietly pulled out due to high operating costs and insufficient ticket sales..
The Last-Mile Conundrum
Even when flights operate reliably, a new airport doesn't automatically mean a shorter journey. Many new regional airports are built on the outskirts of cities where land is available, often miles away from the city centre. This creates a 'last-mile' problem. A one-hour flight might be followed by a two-hour taxi ride through congested local roads just to reach your final destination. This erodes the time saved by flying and adds significant cost and hassle for the traveller. Without integrated planning that includes high-speed road and public transport links from the airport to the city, the total travel time might not be reduced as dramatically as promised. The true journey time is door-to-door, not just runway-to-runway.
Economic Viability and Other Hurdles
The challenges extend beyond passenger numbers. Land acquisition for new airports is a major hurdle in a densely populated country.. Furthermore, a significant number of airports in India, particularly the smaller ones, are not profitable.. They are often cross-subsidised by the revenues generated from a handful of major metropolitan airports.. Expanding this network of potentially loss-making airports requires a sustainable financial model. Franco-Italian aircraft maker ATR, a major supplier of regional aircraft, notes that for regional aviation to succeed, India needs more than just subsidies; it needs financially viable airlines supported by lower airport costs and taxes.. The focus, therefore, cannot just be on building infrastructure but on creating a sustainable ecosystem where regional airlines can thrive.
A More Integrated Approach
Ultimately, more airports can contribute to reducing travel times, but they are not a silver bullet. The success of India's regional connectivity push will depend on a more holistic approach. This means shifting focus from simply launching routes to developing economically vibrant corridors that connect business, tourism, and trade hubs.. It also involves adopting a hub-and-spoke model, where smaller airports feed passengers into larger ones for onward domestic and international connections, a system currently being expanded with Ahmedabad as a new hub.. The real solution lies in viewing air travel as one part of a larger, integrated transport network. Strengthening rail and road infrastructure alongside building airports ensures that a region's connectivity is robust and not solely dependent on the often-fragile economics of a single flight route. For the passenger in a small city, the best outcome is not just a new airport, but a reliable, affordable, and genuinely faster way to get where they need to go.
