Regular flight operations will soon begin from Mysuru under the first phase of the Centre’s Affordable Regional Connectivity Scheme, said Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha. He said that five airliners have been selected to operate 128 routes, including Mysuru under the Udan scheme in which the airfare is capped at Rs. 2,500 for a one-hour flight.

The first flight under Udan (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) is likely to hit the skies in April. Selected airliners will get subsidy to fly passengers. Five carriers — SpiceJet, Air India’s subsidiary Alliance Air, TruJet, Air Deccan, Air Odisha and Turbo Megha — will operate on these routes, putting 31 un-served airports on the national flight map apart from utilising 12 under-served airports, the MP said.

According to the scheme, up to 40 seats in such flights would have a fare cap of Rs. 2,500 per seat/hour. Operators will get viability gap funding (VGF) from a fee levy on flights operated out of big cities, which means an increase of about Rs. 50 in fares for passengers on those routes. The Govt. estimates that about Rs. 205 crore would be spent per year as VGF.

As of now, only 76 airports in India are connected with schedule commercial flights. As per the target fixed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, under Udan, 33 airports which did not get flights will be on the air map. 50 airports will be revived in next two years in small towns, Ministry sources said.