Air travel from Delhi to remote regions in India is set to become cheaper as the Delhi government on Wednesday announced that it had slashed value added tax on aviation turbine fuel from 25% to 1% to promote regional connectivity. The Aam Aadmi Party government announced its decision along with its Budget in compliance with the Centre’s Regional Connectivity Scheme “Udan”, PTI reported.

While presenting the Budget for the financial year 2017-’18 in the Delhi Assembly, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia said the national Capital had decided to participate in the scheme. He said the decision to “bring down the tax for flights to remote areas”, including the northeast states, would boost the city’s connectivity with smaller airports.

While Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport was not in the list of airports under RCS, the AAP government included it in the scheme on the Union Civil Aviation Ministry’s request, an official told PTI. SpiceJet’s Chief Managing Director Ajay Singh said: “This is a welcome move that will help reduce costs and, in turn, bring down fares for flights to smaller airports in the country. We support all initiatives that help reduce fares for our consumers.”

Udan was introduced in October 2016 as part of the National Civil Aviation Policy 2016. The scheme provides a unique opportunity to take flying to the masses with fiscal incentives, infrastructure support, procedural simplifications and monetary subsidies. The Centre has capped fares for half the seats on one-hour flights at Rs 2,500 to make flying between smaller towns or cities affordable.