On the 21st of October, the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India has announced that the program meant to promote air travel between smaller cities would see first flights as early as January, 2017.

The Regional Connectivity Scheme, as the program is called, will install a cap on ticket prices for flights between not-so-well connected cities and towns. Every 500 km of travel will cost the rupee equivalent of $37.4, additional taxes will also be reduced. By making flying more accessible, the government seeks to increase the passenger number on domestic flights from 80 million to 300 million by 2022.

The program is going to be funded by a small increase of fares on existing routes, with the government spending additional $598 million to revitalize 50 currently abandoned airports in the coming four years.

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The Regional Connectivity Scheme is supposed to run for a decade. Most traveled routes, such as Mumbai-New Delhi will not be included in the program.