Udan will help job growth take off in a big way: Govt

Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha on Thursday said that the Regional Connectivity Scheme will prove a step  change in the civil aviation sector of the country and result in net job growth. 

The minister declared that the scheme is on track and would possibility be launched by mid February or early March.

“In addition to core activities like pilots, airhostess, security, ground staff there will be a boom for jobs in allied sectors like transportation, cargo handling and hotels in the cities included under regional connectivity scheme,” said Jayant Singh emphasizing the benefits of the scheme in addressing unemployment. 

“There may be some loss on job for tourist and transport operators in metros but there is no calculation for that. As the employment multiplier in aviation is very high, around 6, it shall result into net job growth. The scheme will be a real boost for economy and job creation in the country,” he added.  

The minister informed that some new aviation companies have also shown interest in starting regular flights for 43 u-served and 12 under served airports in the country. 

“The scheme will prove a step change in the civil aviation sector of the country. We are going to start regular flights on 43 new airports in the country. Presently, only 75 airports are covered,” he added.

“The 35 un-served airports are ready for use they include Shimla, Ludhiana, Bikaner, Kooch Bihar, Jamshedpur and Jaisalmer. We expect to launch the flight operations on selected airports of un-served category by mid February and included all the 43 airports by April,” informed  Sinha. According to the Civil Aviation Ministry 15 state governments have signed the Memorandum of Understanding to provide tax concession and support to the scheme while three more states are in the pipeline to sign. 

“As next round of biddings are conducted we will be able to include more airports in the scheme,” he added. On security of new airports, Sinha informed that the entire security will be managed by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

 “We are in talk with other ministries on bearing the expenditure of the force which could be finalised soon,” said Sinha.