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The National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP), 2016 laid down a target of 30 Crore domestic
ticketing by FY 22 while the extrapolated growth at the time showed that only 17 Crore would be
achieved. RCS was envisioned to help fill this gap. A similar extrapolation exercise based on
figures achieved till FY 19, shows that a figure of 22.5 Crore could have been achieved. RCS is
expected to further help fill the gap, not only through ticketing of seats sold under the Scheme, but
also by bringing new areas on the aviation map of the country which leads to a larger market for air
passengers as a whole.
In October 2016, MoCA adopted a methodical approach to formulate the Scheme. Keeping in view
the time taken to introduce and implement the Scheme as well as the staggered manner in which
routes have operationalized, it is from April, 2018 that a majority of the impact under RCS has
been created.

Guiding principles of RCS-UDAN:
UDAN involves a yearly bidding process wherein airlines bid for routes connecting underserved
and unserved airports. To incentivize operations on these routes, airlines are provided Viability
Gap Funding (VGF) support on some of the seats as well as other concessions to rationalize their
costs such as reduced VAT and excise duty on ATF, waivers on airport charges etc. These

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