Regional air connectivity is central to India's industrial and tourism growth in smaller UTs/states. Discuss with examples.

Q. Regional air connectivity is central to India's industrial and tourism growth in smaller UTs/states. Discuss with examples. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

Since the launch of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (UDAN) in 2017, over 600 routes and 90-plus unserved and underserved airports have been operationalised [2]. For smaller Union Territories and states that lack rail heads, ports or expressways, air links are not a luxury but the primary channel through which industry and tourism connect to national markets.

Enabling industrial growth - Time compression: the NAMO Airport, Daman, opened to scheduled service on 16 July 2026 with an Alliance Air Daman–Delhi–Daman flight, cutting an 8–10 hour surface journey to about 2.5 hours [1]. - Serving a manufacturing cluster: Daman hosts over 7,000 industries, with 15,000-plus in the adjoining Vapi–Valsad belt; faster executive and high-value cargo movement lowers transaction costs [1]. - Scale created: capacity of 14 ATR flights a day and 3.67 lakh passengers annually gives the cluster durable, not token, access [1].

Boosting tourism - Daman receives roughly 20 lakh visitors a year; direct metro links convert weekend footfall into longer, higher-spending stays [1]. - UDAN's design recognises this, with dedicated tourism routes and helicopter routes linking hill and coastal destinations such as Shillong and Sindhudurg [3].

Cost-effective, dual-use asset creation - NAMO Airport's civil terminal was built on 25 acres for ₹124 crore, operating from the Indian Coast Guard Air Station — a dual-use model that adds civil capacity at low marginal cost while strengthening western coastal surveillance [1]. - A runway extension approved by the Ministry of Defence (May 2026) will permit A320-class operations, allowing capacity to scale with demand [1].

Yet thin passenger volumes, dependence on viability gap funding and weak last-mile road links can leave such airports underused. The sustainable path lies in sequencing airports with industrial corridors, tourism circuits and multimodal links, so that connectivity generates its own demand. Read this way, regional aviation is less a transport project than an instrument of balanced regional development, extending the reach of growth to India's smaller UTs and states.

(~320 words)

Sources: 1. PIB — Historic Milestone for Daman: Union Minister of Civil Aviation Flags Off Inaugural Commercial Flight from NAMO Airport to New Delhi (16 July 2026) — inaugural flight and route, travel-time reduction, industrial cluster and tourist footfall, terminal cost/area/capacity, ICG dual-use, runway extension approval 2. Ministry of Civil Aviation — UDAN (RCS) — routes operationalised and unserved/underserved airports connected under UDAN 3. Ministry of Civil Aviation — Routes operationalised under RCS-UDAN, including tourism and helicopter routes — dedicated tourism and helicopter route categories