Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri yesterday flagged off the first flight from Delhi to the newly upgraded Trishul Military Airbase, Bareilly Airport, Uttar Pradesh.
Santosh Gangwar, MoS, I/C, Labour & Employment, graced the event at the Delhi Airport by flagging off the All Women Crew operated Delhi – Bareilly Inaugural flight on the International Women’s Day. Pradeep Singh Kharola, Union Civil Aviation Secretary and Rajiv Bansal, CMD, Air India joined virtually.
The Bareilly airport has been upgraded for commercial flight operations under the Regional Connectivity Scheme – Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (RCS-UDAN) of the Government of India. The flagging off marks the commencement of the 56th airport under the UDAN scheme and marks the successful operationalization of the 8th airport of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Hindon, Agra and Prayagraj.
Trishul Military Airbase, Bareilly belongs to the Indian Air Force and the land was handed over to the Airport Authority of India for construction of the interim civil aviation operations. The Government of India sanctioned Rs. 88 crores under the UDAN scheme for the development of the interim civil aviation operations. The upgradation was undertaken by the AAI with a cost of Rs. 65 crores.
Alliance Air was awarded the Delhi – Bareilly route under the UDAN-4 bidding process last year. The airline will be deploying its ATR 72 600 aircraft having a seating capacity of 70 seats on this route.
To date, 325 routes and 56 airports including 5 heliports and 2 Water Aerodromes have been operationalized under the UDAN scheme. To keep the fares accessible for the common man, financial incentives in the form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) is being provided under the UDAN scheme from the Centre, State governments and airport operators to selected airlines to encourage operations from unserved and underserved airports under the scheme.
