Come April, a component of your airfares that helps the government fund its Regional Connectivity (or UDAN) scheme (RCS) will triple.
According to a government order issued on October 21, airlines will have to pay an RCS levy of ₹10,000 per departure instead of the existing ₹5,000 from January 1, 2023, to March 31, 2023. This will be further revised to ₹15,000. From 1 April 2023 to 30 April 2027. This is the first increase in the levy.
The airlines, in turn, will charge passengers an amount of ₹50 as a part of the total airfare, along with other fare components including User Development Charges (UDF) and Passenger Service Charges, which will be paid to the airport. . and CISF.
The RCS levy is used to help the government provide subsidies to carriers that connect tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and offer 50% of seats at subsidized rates under the government’s scheme.
A government official said the move was needed as the number of routes under RCS was increasing, and the scheme was self-financed without any allocation from the government for subsidy amount.