‘I want to see people who wear hawai chappal in hawai jahaz’: PM Modi

TIL Desk/National/Shimla/ PM Narendra Modi launched a new scheme today to boost air travel between smaller cities by making flights far more affordable for “tier 2” and smaller towns. “I want to see people who wear hawai chappal (flip flops) in a hawai jahaz (airplane),” the PM said in Shimla today.

Under the “Regional Connectivity Scheme’ – known as UDAN – air fares on routes between towns and cities currently poorly connected will be capped at 2,500 rupees for every 500 km of travel. To get more Indians flying, service and fuel taxes have been dropped as incentive for airlines to fly less traversed routes.

A small levy will be slapped on existing routes to help pay for the scheme, while the government will provide funding to make the project viable and spend nearly $600 million to reopen about 50 disused airports within four years.Alliance Air, a subsidiary of national carrier Air India, will operate the Delhi-Shimla flight that was launched today, and has offered a special starting fare of Rs. 2,036.