Bonanza for flyers: Kullu-Jaipur flight to commence from Oct 14
Alliance Air will commence a direct flight between Kullu and Jaipur from October 14. Kullu Alliance Air station manager Manish said that the operations would be carried out on Mondays and Wednesdays under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), commonly known as UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik).
The seats are available at a one-way fare of Rs 2,509, including the webcharge of Rs 199. The operations would be carried out using 70 seater ATR-72 aircraft and one way flight will be of 1 hour 55 minutes. The flight would depart from Jaipur at 8.20 am and arrive in Kullu at 10.15 am. Then it will return back at 10.35 am and arrive at Jaipur at 12.40 pm.
On Mondays & Wednesdays
- The flight will operate on Mondays and Wednesdays
- The seats are available at a one-way fare of ~2,509
- One way flight will be of 1 hour 55 minutes
- The flight will depart from Jaipur at 8.20 am and arrive in Kullu at 105 am
- The flight will depart from Kullu at 10.35 am and reach Jaipur at 12.40 pm
Kullu Travel Agents Association patron Bhupinder Thakur said it would be for the first time that any airlines would carry out direct operations between Kullu and Jaipur. He said, “The sole government national regional flag carrier has already connected Kullu with Amritsar and Dehradun. Tickets were available at very nominal rates for all these sectors under the UDAN yojana.”
The flights to Srinagar from Kullu were also under consideration by the airline, he said.
Ashish, a hotelier of Kullu, said that Jaipur flights would provide tourists of Rajasthan a convenient option to visit the upcoming world famous seven-day-long International Kullu Dasehra Festival starting from October 13. The beneficiaries of the tourism industry said that Alliance Air has fortified the air connectivity in the region.
An aviation expert Budhi Prakash Thakur said that the proposal for the extension of the runway of Kullu-Manali airport at Bhuntar has been hanging fire for the past over two decades. He said, “The government should show interest in expanding the airport to boost tourism in the region, which is the backbone of the economy here.”
He alleged that flight cancellations were frequent even despite setting up of the Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range (DVOR) and DME (Distance Measuring Instrument) systems by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at the top of Thachi hill on the border of Kullu and Mandi to assist in navigation. He added that a longer runway and better meteorological support instruments will boost air connectivity.
