If you travel by aeroplane, then there is great news for you. Now you will not have to face COVID-19 screening at 73 airports in the country. Because there is a huge decline in the cases of COVID-19.
That’s why it has been decided not to test Covid at 73 airports in the country. Let us tell you that there has been a lot of expansion in the civil aviation sector in the last few years and there are plans to expand further. A total of 73 unused or underserved airports including 9 heliports and 2 water aerodromes have been operationalized since 2017 under the UDAN scheme till 31.01.2023 .
UDAN is an ongoing scheme where bidding rounds are conducted from time to time to cover more destinations and routes. UDAN is a self-financing scheme. VGF amounting to about Rs.2355 crore has been released to selected airline operators till 31.01.2023 for operation of UDAN flights.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation launched the regional connectivity scheme UDAN on 21.10.2016 to encourage regional air connectivity and make air travel affordable. UDAN is a market driven scheme. Interested airlines submit their proposals during bidding under UDAN based on their assessment of demand on particular routes.
Approval received for the revival of airports
The government has approved a scheme called ‘Revitalization of Unserved and Underserved Airports’ for the revival and development of 100 unused and underserved airports, helipads and water airports by 2024. Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda and Pathankot in the state of Punjab have been identified for operation of UDAN flights till the completion of four rounds of bidding. Flight operations have been started by Selected Airline Operators (SAOs) from Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda and Pathankot airports.
Now there will be no COVID-19 test
In a new development, passengers coming to India from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand and Japan will no longer have to undergo pre-departure COVID-19 test from Monday. Earlier they were required to upload the Covid test report on the Air Suvidha portal, however, testing of two per cent of passengers arriving in India will be monitored with a mutated variant of SARS-CoV-2.
89 percent drop in corona cases
In a letter to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that these countries are witnessing a sustained and significant decline in the pace of COVID-19 cases. He said that the process of decline is continuing in India as well, less than 100 new cases are being reported per day. According to the World Health Organisation’s latest situational update on COVID-19, there has been an 89 per cent decline globally in the number of new confirmed cases in the last 28 days.
