NABH NIRMAN: The government is augmenting the airport capacity of various airports as part of NABH (NextGen Airports for BHarat) Nirman initiative.The government in February announced a new initiative — NABH Nirman— under which it proposes to expand airport capacity in the country by more than five times to handle a billion trips a year.The three key aspects of NABH Nirman are (1) fair and equitable land acquisition, (2) long-term master plan for airport and regional development and (3) balanced economics for all stakeholders.In the last three years, domestic air passenger traffic grew at 18% a year and the airline companies placed orders for more than 900 aircraft. NABH Nirman could take the number of airports in India to 700 from about 125 airports today.
UDAN: UDAN is a regional connectivity scheme spearheaded by the Government of India (GoI). The full form of UDAN is ‘UdeDesh ka AamNagarik’ and aims to develop smaller regional airports to allow common citizens easier access to aviation services.
This scheme is a part of the National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) and is funded jointly by the GoI and the state governments. The following are its salient features:
- The scheme duration is for 10 years
- Airlines participating in UDAN are selected through a competitive bidding process
- The Central government will provide the following:
- Subsidy to cover Value Gap funding (VGF) for participating airlines
- Concessional GST on tickets booked using the scheme
- Codesharing for flights under the policy