UPPSC 2024 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 90 of 150

Correct — D, Both 1 and 2. FLY91 is a new Indian regional airline, and it began commercial operations on 18 MARCH 2024 with its inaugural flight out of MANOHAR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT at Mopa in Goa, which is also its base. Both statements are therefore accurate as printed, and (d) is the answer. Statement 1 is true in the strict sense the examiner intends — FLY91 was not a rebranding of an existing carrier but a new entrant, and as of the December 2024 exam it was less than a year old. Statement 2 is true in every particular: the airport is right (Manohar International, the Mopa airport in North Goa, not Goa's older Dabolim airport), and the date is right (18 March 2024). The airline was flagged off by the Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, flies ATR 72-600 turboprops, and is built around regional connectivity under the RCS-UDAN scheme, connecting smaller airports to larger ones on thin routes that a narrow-body jet cannot serve economically. Its early network shows exactly that design — Goa to Bengaluru, Goa to Sindhudurg, and later Goa to Agatti in Lakshadweep. The reason this question is answerable even without recalling the airline is that both statements are modest: neither claims a superlative, neither claims a first, and neither reverses a role. When a two-statement current-affairs item contains no exaggeration, 'both correct' is usually the right instinct.

• (a)Only 2 — This accepts the flight but denies that FLY91 is new, which is wrong — FLY91 entered service only on 18 March 2024 and was a fresh regional carrier, not an existing airline under a new name. Candidates who half-remember one of India's many rebranded or revived carriers may talk themselves out of statement 1, but there is nothing to revive here.
• (b)Neither 1 nor 2 — Both statements are correct, so 'neither' is doubly wrong. It is the default guess of a candidate who has not heard of FLY91 at all — but note that the safer default in a two-statement item with no superlative and no reversed role is the opposite one.
• (c)Only 1 — This concedes that the airline is new but rejects the launch details, and those details are exactly right. The inaugural flight did depart from Manohar International Airport — the Mopa airport in North Goa, which is FLY91's base — on 18 March 2024. The most likely reason a candidate rejects statement 2 is confusing Goa's two airports and expecting Dabolim.

FLY91 belongs to the regional-connectivity layer of Indian civil aviation rather than to its trunk-route layer. That layer was created deliberately by policy: the National Civil Aviation Policy of 2016 introduced the Regional Connectivity Scheme, branded UDAN — Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik — under which airlines bid for routes to underserved and unserved airports, fares on a fixed share of seats are capped, and the shortfall is met through viability gap funding financed by a levy on major routes. The economics of those routes suit small turboprops, which is why regional carriers fly ATR-72s rather than jets, and why the scheme has been accompanied by the revival and construction of small airports and airstrips.

Two coordinates matter for this question and both are easy to slip on. The first is which airport: Goa has two, the older Dabolim airport in the south, which shares a runway with the naval air station, and Manohar International Airport at Mopa in the north, named after the former Goa Chief Minister and Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, opened as Goa's second airport in the early 2020s. FLY91's inaugural flight went from Mopa. The second is the date, 18 March 2024, which sits in the current-affairs window a December 2024 paper draws on. Present-day note for a student reading this after the exam: FLY91 launched in 2024 as described here, but the fortunes of small regional carriers in India change quickly, so treat the network described in this card as its position at launch rather than as its position today.

• FLY91 is a new Indian regional airline that began commercial operations on 18 March 2024, with its inaugural flight from Manohar International Airport (Mopa), Goa, which is also its base.
• It operates ATR 72-600 turboprops and is positioned around regional connectivity under the RCS-UDAN scheme; the launch was flagged off by the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia.
• Its early routes ran from Goa to Bengaluru and to Sindhudurg, and later to Agatti in Lakshadweep — short, thin routes of the kind UDAN was designed for.
• Manohar International Airport at Mopa in North Goa is the State's second airport alongside Dabolim, and is named after Manohar Parrikar, former Chief Minister of Goa and Union Defence Minister.
• The Regional Connectivity Scheme (UDAN — Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) was introduced under the National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016, and works through capped fares on a share of seats plus viability gap funding for the operator.

• Confusing Goa's two airports. Dabolim is the older airport in South Goa; Manohar International at Mopa in North Goa is the newer one and FLY91's base.
• Assuming a 'newly launched airline' claim must be a rebranding. FLY91 was a genuine new entrant that started flying on 18 March 2024.
• Treating an airline's route map as static. The Goa–Bengaluru, Goa–Sindhudurg and Goa–Agatti routes describe FLY91 as it stood at and shortly after launch.

UPPSC asks aviation current affairs as 'which airport / which airline / on what date' items, often as two statements; UPSC prefers the policy layer — what UDAN is, what a greenfield airport is, who owns and operates an airport. Prepare both the news coordinates and the scheme behind them.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN, under which regional airlines such as FLY91 operate, was introduced under which of the following?

  • (a)The Open Sky Policy of 1990
  • (b)The National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016
  • (c)The Bharatmala Pariyojana
  • (d)The PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan

  Answer(b) The National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016 — UDAN, 'Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik', caps fares on a share of seats on selected regional routes and meets the operator's shortfall through viability gap funding.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Manohar International Airport, from which FLY91 began operations in March 2024, is named after

  • (a)Manohar Joshi
  • (b)Manohar Parrikar
  • (c)Ram Manohar Lohia
  • (d)Manohar Lal Khattar

  Answer(b) Manohar Parrikar — the airport at Mopa in North Goa is named after the former Chief Minister of Goa and Union Defence Minister; it is Goa's second airport, alongside Dabolim.