The government's regional air connectivity scheme, which has created a landmark, is giving birth to regional carriers in a country that in the last 20 years has seen closing down of airlines, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Tuesday.

After virtually flagging off regional airline IndiaOne Air's flight from Jamshedpur to Kolkata, Scindia said it will also be the first scheduled commercial air service from Jamshedpur, which earlier was limited to non-scheduled operations.

The UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme is "giving birth to new airlines in a country that over the last 20 years has only seen closing of airlines. With this scheme alone, regional airlines like StarAir, IndiaOne Air, FlyBig have been born. New records of aviation will be established," Scindia told PTI here.

According to the minister, UDAN, the regional air connectivity scheme, has created a new landmark transporting almost close to 1.15 crore people in the last six years.

With the flight service starting from Jamshedpur, the total number of operational airports has increased from 74 in 2013-14 to 147 today.

"We are one short of doubling the number in 8 years and next month the 148th airport will be operationalised in India," Scindia said.

Shimoga airport in Karnataka is to be inaugurated next month.

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