Regional air connectivity scheme makes air travel affordable; cheapest base airfare at Rs 150

With the regional air connectivity scheme, passengers can take a 50 minute flight and pay as less as 150 rupees as base airfare.

Not just this route, there are many more flights where the base ticket price is less than Rs 1,000. All of them are operated under the regional air connectivity scheme that provides various incentives for the airline operators.

Regional air connectivity scheme

According to an analysis shared by travel portal ixigo with PTI, there are at least 22 routes where the base airfares are less than Rs 1,000 per person, with the lowest being Rs 150 for flights connecting Lilabari and Tezpur in Assam.

The cheapest one way base fare is Rs 150 for a flight to and from Lilabari to Tezpur (Assam). The flights are operated by Alliance Air. While booking a ticket, there will be addition of convenience charge to the base fare.

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Broadly, the duration of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) flights on these routes are around 50 minutes. Majority of the routes where the base airfares range between Rs 150 and Rs 199 per person are in the North East. There are also routes in the South like Bangalore-Salem, Cochin-Salem where the base ticket prices are in this range, as per the analysis.

The base ticket price is Rs 400 for flights to and from Guwahati and Shillong.

For Imphal-Aizawl, Dimapur-Shillong and Shillong-Lilabari flights, the airfare is Rs 500. In the case of Bangalore-Salem flight, the base ticket price is Rs 525.

The analysis showed that the base airfare for Guwahati-Pasighat flight is Rs 999 and it is Rs 954 for Lilabari-Guwahati route. These are among the routes where there is a low demand and there are other transport options to reach these places in over five hours, according to an industry executive.

As many as 559 routes have been operationalised under the RCS also known as UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) till March 31, 2024, as per the latest update from the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

For RCS flights, various incentives are extended by the central government, state governments and airport operators. Among others, there are no landing or parking charges for these flights.

The civil aviation ministry launched UDAN on October 21, 2016, with an aim to stimulate regional air connectivity and make air travel more affordable