New Delhi, July 21 : Over one crore air passengers have availed the benefit of the government's UDAN regional connectivity scheme since its inception in 2016, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Gen. V.K. Singh (retd), said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The scheme focuses on connectivity between Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and the number of beneficiaries will increase manifold as connectivity improves between the unserved and underserved airports, the reply said. The Ministry of Civil Aviation had launched the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme on October 21, 2016 to enhance regional air connectivity from unserved and underserved airports in the country by making air travel affordable for the masses. So far, 425 UDAN routes have been operationalised across the country, connecting 68 UDAN airports, including two water aerodromes and eight heliports. According to Singh's reply, the government had approved a scheme at a total cost of Rs 4,500 crore for the revival and development of unserved and underserved airports of state governments, Airports Authority of India(AAI), Civil Enclaves, Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), helipads and water aerodromes. The expenditure incurred up to June 30, 2022 under this scheme was Rs 2,610 crore. An airport which is included in the awarded routes of UDAN and requires upgradation/development for commencement of RCS (regional connectivity scheme) operations is developed under the 'Revival/upgradation of unserved and underserved airports/heliports/water aerodromes' scheme. Year-wise details of air passengers who availed the UDAN scheme: * 2017-18: 2,63,166 * 2018-19: 12,40,896 * 2019-20: 29,91,337 * 2020-21: 14,98,066 * 2021-22: 32,99,860 /IANS