Govt plans to extend UDAN to international flights

This news in LiveMint suggests Govt of India is planning to extend UDAN scheme from domestic to international flights. This means airlines willing to fly from less popular Indian airports to a nearby international destination will get some incentives and a portion of seats will have to be sold at government set upper ceiling price (like 2500 max for domestic). Some of the airports which only have domestic flights as of now may get upgraded to operate international flights. Besides airlines willing to fly, airport will need additional modifications- immigration and customs counters etc.

This move may also tempt low cost carriers like Air Asia, Air Arabia, Scoot to operate more flights to and from India’s cheaper airports.

Of course above news only shows an intention to expand UDAN to international sectors- doesn’t provide a timeline or a concrete decision. It may take an year before actual flights commence, assuming planning and preparation starts now.

Below table I have compiled a list of various nearby international destinations (few hours away from Indian shores), their current minimum fares and a possible price target if UDAN flights are to be introduced on these routes. Of course for cheap UDAN flights to be successful flights should operate from less expensive airports. For example if Bengaluru airport is expensive to operate, UDAN international flights can be operated from Mysuru or Hosur and hope more customers chose to travel to Mysuru due to overall savings.

Even on the other side, there are cheaper airport- for example, Gan Island in Maldives is much less popular compared to capial Male. In Vietnam, flights to DAD,  Phu Quoc might be cheaper to fly, Thailand has several less popular cities with airport, direct flights to where will be lot cheaper and so on...

#	Nearby International Destinations	Lowest seen return fare in recent times (INR)	Target for Udan flights (return fare, INR)
1	Chennai-Colombo	7500-8000	5000
2	BLR/Chennai to Mauritius	25000-30000	15000
3	Kochi/Trivandrum to Male (Maldives)	12000-14000	8000-10000
4	Delhi/Kolkata to Katmandu	8000-10000	5000-6000
5	Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok	6000-7000	5000-6000 (Air Asia, Scoot etc already offer very cheap flights)
6	Vietnam	No direct flights right now, around 10k return during sale	8000-9000 from CCU/MAA etc?
7	Paro (Bhutan)	Not many flights	5000-6000 from CCU/DEL?
8	Macau/Hong Kong	12000-14000	8000-10000
9	Sharjah/Dubai	10000-15000	7000-9000

What do you think of this plan? Which nearby international destination would you like to fly for cheap?