Pathankot, Ludhiana, Shimla among 15 UDAN airports with no flight operation

Fifteen airports across the country, including strategically important regional hubs such as Pathankot in Punjab, Ludhiana in the industrial belt and the hill airport of Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, have fallen temporarily silent under the Centre’s flagship UDAN connectivity scheme.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Monday informed the Rajya Sabha that these airports, along with a dozen others revived over the past few years, currently have no flight operations due to a mix of commercial, operational and infrastructure-related challenges.

The disclosure comes even as the government highlighted the wider progress of the UDAN scheme, under which 651 routes and 93 unserved and underserved airports have been brought into the national aviation network, supported by 15 heliports and two water aerodromes.

Minister of State Murlidhar Mohol said in a written reply that the 15 non-operational airports — Pathankot, Pakyong, Kushinagar, Aligarh, Azamgarh, Chitrakoot, Shravasti, Moradabad, Bhavnagar, Ambikapur, Rourkela, Ludhiana, Datia, Kalaburagi and Shimla — have suspended flights because of several interconnected factors.

He said the reasons include “completion of the three-year VGF tenure, poor visibility conditions at VFR airports, daytime runway closures, shortage of aircraft, leasing issues, temporary discontinuation of operations by the airline concerned, novation of contractual obligations to other operators and low passenger load factors (PLF), etc”.

The minister also tabled the complete list of operationalised UDAN airports and associated expenditure in the reply, which spans almost every state and offers a deeper view of how the scheme has been implemented on the ground.

As per MoCA, in Andhra Pradesh, Kadapa was among the earliest to join the network in 2017, followed by Kurnool in 2021. Arunachal Pradesh’s difficult terrain did not prevent operationalisation of Tezu, Passighat and Hollongi, where combined expenditure crossed Rs 98 crore. Assam’s network widened through Jorhat, Lilabari, Tezpur and Rupsi, the last of which alone absorbed nearly Rs 89 crore.

In Bihar, Darbhanga emerged as a strong UDAN node in 2020 after receiving over Rs 127 crore, while Purnea was added only recently in September 2025. Chhattisgarh saw multiple revivals in Jagdalpur, Bilaspur and Ambikapur, with the latter involving an allocation of more than Rs 80 crore. Gujarat recorded steady expansion as Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Kandla, Keshod, Mundra and Porbandar reopened between 2017 and 2022, each supported by varying levels of investment.

Himachal Pradesh’s high-altitude airstrips, Shimla, Kullu, Mandi and Rampur, all feature in the annexure, with Shimla alone accounting for over Rs 116 crore in expenditure before operations were recently suspended. Karnataka registered a long list of revivals, including Belgaum, Hubli, Mysore, Vidyanagar, Kalaburagi and Bidar, operationalised between 2017 and 2023, while Kerala added Kannur airport under the scheme in 2019.

Madhya Pradesh saw Gwalior reopen in 2017, followed by larger investments in Rewa and Datia, the latter operationalised in May 2025. In Maharashtra, Kolhapur stood out with an allocation of Rs 333 crore, the highest among all UDAN airports listed, followed by Amravati which reopened in 2025 with nearly Rs 148 crore spent. Jharsuguda in Odisha also recorded a substantial investment of more than Rs 183 crore, with Jeypore, Rourkela and Utkela joining the network in 2022 and 2023.

Punjab saw Adampur revived with over Rs 125 crore, along with Bhatinda, Ludhiana and Pathankot, both Ludhiana and Pathankot now being non-operational. Rajasthan’s Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Kishangarh returned to service by 2018, while Sikkim’s Pakyong airport, operationalised in 2018 with nearly Rs 179 crore, has since faced periodic operational difficulties.

Uttar Pradesh recorded one of the most extensive expansions under UDAN, with Agra, Bareilly, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Kushinagar and newly added Aligarh, Azamgarh, Shravasti and Chitrakoot all receiving state support. Expenditure in the state ranged from Rs 7 crore for Agra to Rs 161 crore for Prayagraj. Uttarakhand saw a combination of airports and heliports, including Pantnagar, Pithoragarh, Sahastradhara, Gauchar, New Tehri, Almora and Nainital, operationalised between 2019 and 2025.

West Bengal rounded off the list with Cooch Behar and Durgapur, both added to the regional network between 2019 and 2023.