UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme, an endeavor to make regional connectivity easy but this has come as a bane for Belagavi which was an operational airport while boon for Hubballi which was unserved airport. UDAN scheme seeks to promote regional connectivity by serving the unserved and under-served airports as Belagavi was an operational airport it could not be brought under the UDAN scheme. But what has happened is due to the benefits of the UDAN scheme Low-cost carrier SpiceJet has planned to divert all its 5 flights from Belagavi from May 14 to Hubballi and operate from there leaving the Sambra airport been unserved.
The Belagavi airport which was started by the Royal British Army way back in 1942 has seen the ups and downs and was also an unserved airport for a lot of time. An unserved airport is one to which there is no daily service, while an under-served airport is one which has not seen a flight for two consecutive flight schedules.
UDAN — Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik — is a regional aviation scheme that encourages airlines to fly to under-served airports. The subsidized scheme requires airlines to sell a certain number of seats (between nine and 40) at a maximum fare of Rs 2,500 per hour of flying.
As many as 70 airports, including 31 unserved and 12 under-served ones, would be connected with the UDAN flights. Under the scheme, on each flight, 50 percent of the seats would have a cap of Rs 2,500 per seat/hour.
The government is expected to compensate for the loss with a Viability Gap Funding (VGF) of about Rs. 3,000 per seat.
The VGF will be used to bridge the gap between the cost of airline operations and expected revenue. Airline operators would be extended VGF estimated to be around Rs 205 crore per annum for the operators chosen in the first round of bidding. So far, 19 States and three union territories have signed a MoU for this purpose.
The scheme includes various benefits like no airport charges and three-year exclusivity on the routes.
The decision of SpiceJet to divert all its flights to Hubballi has been seen as a major surprise as all expected that it would divert 2 flights out of the 5 it was operating to Hubballi.
Now what happens to Belagavi airport?
Technically if no new airlines start operations here which can be even big Boeing and Airbus planes, it can be termed as an UNSERVED airport and eventually we could see Belagavi in the RCS map in Phase 3 which is likely to released at the end of the year or early next year.
Experts also feel political lobbying in Hubballi is too good whereas there is nil lobbying here which also has an impact on the operator.
The diversion of flights to Hubballi under UDAN is a welcome step for them but why should a city suffer and another gain, it should be that both cities must grow.
This is just not fair. Let spice jet go let in the other flights. Think smart this city comes under smart city. How Would it be a smart city without an airport.
So much shame for Second Capital of Karnataka.
Who is coming ask the votes, now ?
I think the shifting flights to hubli is b,coze of upcoming greenfield airport in mopa (goa ) & kolapur
MOPA
i think there was a agreement with Goa govt and mopa (GVK) airports that no other airport would be allowed to operate within 150-km radius of these facilities.
“belgavi comes within the 150-km radius , & KOLAPUR is selected under Udan 2 indigo is giong start kolapur to hyadrabad & kolapur to tirupati & one more alliance air is going to start – kolapur to hyadrabad & kolapur to bangalore
Why the local politician are not interested in this matter.
They are only interested in linguistic division based on language, instead they would concentrated at development, Belagavi would have grown drastically
They are more interested in distributing Saree cookers building engineering college hoisting national flag , establishing their careers, feel pity we dnt have intercity or extra trains to blore , nexus between private bus travels and netas, what is purpose of giving smart city tag to bgm?
All Thx to our MP Suresh that Belgaum gets deserted Airport , As a smart city one cannot imagine a city without operational Airport.MP Suresh do some public work and for betterment for citizens of Belgaum,Wake up…
Bring pressure during central leaders visit to Belagavi for this .
Why could not the UDAN scheme be implemented with Belgaum which was ready existing and operational. With 80 to 90 % all flights running full.
Yeh to koi nai baat nahi hai belgaum k saat pehle se aisa hi hota aaya hai..jo bhi development hai sirf hubli ko hi milta hai..
If you consider statistics, apart from population, Belagavi is just next to Bangalore in all fields, yet this govt. does not care. Only SVS is not enough for us to develop.
Its all politics. This is why I never trust Karnataka govt. Be it any party, there has always been a step motherly treatment to Belagavi and its people. These politicians had promised that they will develop Belagavi on lines of Bangalore, i.e. second capital, but they could not even save our airport from losing its ground. Even industries are moving out of Belagavi to Hubli due to lack of political will and commitment.