Eleven airports launched by the Centre under the UDAN scheme over the past decade — seven of them in Uttar Pradesh — have fallen silent because of various operational issues, low turnout, airline disinterest and technical hurdles.

The Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) was launched by the Narendra Modi government on October 21, 2016, with the vision of making air travel affordable for common people by providing flight services in small cities at subsidised rates.

Since then, many airports have been opened with much fanfare. According to the government, 126 civilian airports are operational in the country. Flight operations at 11 other airports, all of which were opened under the UDAN scheme, have been suspended for different reasons — some since 2023 and some since 2024.

According to a media release from the government, operations at the airports in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh, Moradabad, Chitrakoot and Shravasti, Gujarat’s Bhavnagar, Punjab’s Ludhiana and Sikkim’s Pakyong have been suspended for the winter schedule effective from October 26, 2025, to March 28, 2026.

Apart from these seven, The Telegraph has learnt from multiple airport sources that flight services have stopped at Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar, Azamgarh and Saharanpur and Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa, too.

The airports at Aligarh, Azamgarh, Chitrakoot, Moradabad and Shravasti were among those inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi ahead of the 2024 general election.

The last flight to take off from Kushinagar airport was on November 7, 2023. For Azamgarh, this was November 23, 2024; for Aligarh, April 2025; Chitrakoot, December 16, 2024; Moradabad, November 2023; Shravasti, December 2024; and Ludhiana, September 27. There is no data in the public domain on any flight having ever landed at or taken off from Saharanpur airport.

With not a single commercial flight taking off from or landing at many of these 11 airports for months or even years, the government’s plan to transform the regional connectivity landscape and make flying accessible and affordable for all has come under question.

According to the sources, services at these 11 airports were disrupted because of reasons ranging from weather issues, underwhelming footfall, airlines not willing to operate and the lack of technical facilities.

At five of these airports — Ludhiana, Azamgarh, Chitrakoot, Shravasti and Moradabad — FlyBig is the only airline operating flights. According to government data, the airline’s flight operations have plummeted from 176 per week in the 2025 summer schedule to 58 per week in the winter schedule, a nearly 67 per cent decline.

Queries sent by this newspaper to the press information bureau of the ministry of civil aviation on whether feasibility surveys were conducted before planning the airports, and what the findings were, remained unanswered.

Kushinagar

The Kushinagar International Airport was built to attract foreign tourists as the place holds historical importance and is a popular pilgrimage site for Buddhists.

When Modi inaugurated the airport on October 20, 2021, there were expectations of high international footfall. SpiceJet was one of the major players to begin a Kushinagar-Delhi flight on November 26, 2021.

Flights to and from Calcutta and Mumbai were also operated for a brief period but were halted because of the small number of passengers. On November 7, 2023, the Kushinagar-Delhi route was suspended.

Airport officials at Kushinagar told this newspaper on the condition of anonymity that the authorities were facing problems in installing an instrument landing system (ILS) because of a legal dispute with the owners of some houses built near the runway.

“A few months ago, Allahabad High Court gave the go-ahead to demolish the disputed houses near the airport. Now we have begun the process of installing the ILS. In the next few months, the ILS will be installed at the airport,” airport director Pranesh Kumar Roy said.

The ILS is a radio navigation system which gives both horizontal and vertical guidance to pilots for safe landings.

Roy said the airport was now equipped with instruments that facilitate nighttime landing, which would make round-the-clock operations possible in the future.

The absence of night flights was causing inconvenience to passengers, especially foreigners.

Roy hoped flight operations would resume in two-three months, adding that talks were on with airlines.

Chitrakoot

Built in the Devangana valley, Uttar Pradesh’s first tabletop airport was inaugurated virtually by the Prime Minister on March 10, 2024, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls to bolster religious tourism. The first flight landed here two days after its inauguration.

According to sources, airlines have not shown much interest in offering services here because of operational issues such as visibility concerns. Passenger demand, however, was satisfactory.

Initially, commercial flights were operated between Chitrakoot and Lucknow on certain days of the week. Since December 16, 2024, no passenger aircraft has taken off from Chitrakoot, leaving the airport inactive for nearly a year.

Alok Singh, the Chitrakoot airport director, told this newspaper that talks were on with FlyBig. According to him, the airport was expected to resume operations on October 26, but could not because of the persistent visibility problems.

However, the airport is open for chartered flights. Singh said the airport was ready for commercial and non-commercial operations and hoped that airlines would show interest in operating flights from Chitrakoot.

Shravasti

Operations were suspended at Shravasti airport on December 24, 2024, six months after its inauguration, because of low passenger counts.

Because of the small runway, the airport was only suitable for small commercial flights and FlyBig was the only airline that operated services here, that too for a brief period.

Lucknow airport is nearly 170km from Shravasti, a distance that can be covered in around three hours. The nearest railhead is Balrampur, 17km from Shravasti, whereas Gonda railway station is around 50km away. All these appear to have made rail and road connectivity to Shravasti a more viable option than flying.

According to airport director Afzal Ahmed, the facility is undergoing further development to enhance its services.

Aligarh

No commercial flight has used Aligarh airport for the past six months. Talks are on with airline operators to resume services. However, the airport is open to welcome non-commercial flights.

Moradabad

Moradabad airport has been closed for commercial services since November 2024, six months after its inauguration.

Azamgarh

FlyBig had been providing services between Azamgarh
and Lucknow, but flight operations stopped on November 23, 2024, because of lack of passenger interest.

Ludhiana

Ludhiana airport has been lying moribund since Flybig, the only airline operating flights there, stopped its services from there in September 2025.

Jagir Singh, the airport director, expressed hope that commercial airlines would start services soon.

Pakyong

Pakyong airport in Sikkim saw flight services discontinued this winter season because of weather-related issues, sources said.

Rewa

Initially, FlyBig had operated a few flights from Rewa airport but now the operations have been suspended. Sources said a few big players were planning to offer services here.