Jubbarhatti (Shimla): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday stressed the need for improving air connectivity as an engine of growth, saying that it would enable the common man to fly.
“Our aim is that Hawaii chappal wale log bhi hawai jahaz ke sair kar saken, (people in rubber slippers should also fly),” he said, while launching the regional connectivity scheme (RCS), also called Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN), from the Jubbarhatti airport to boost regional connectivity.
The PM flagged off the maiden Shimla-Delhi flight under the scheme.
The flight is being operated by Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India. The airline has deployed its 42- seater ATR plane on this sector.
He also inaugurated flights on the Kadapa-Hyderabad and the Nanded-Hyderabad sectors through a video conference.
Mr Modi said earlier it was believed that air travel was meant only for the “Raja-Maharaja and elite class”. Even the mascot of Air India was a maharaja, he said.
Mr Modi said better connectivity would help the country’s youth. He said in the absence of any aviation policy in the last 70 years, many air-strips built during the second world war were lying idle.
