TLI Staff
New Delhi: While it is all gloom and doom for the aviation sector with experts predicting bankruptcy for most airlines in the wake of Coronavirus outbreak, start-up carrier Star Air seems unperturbed as it launched a new flight under the Modi government’s signature UDAN scheme to connect smaller towns.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Monday flagged off the first-ever thrice-weekly flight from Indore (Madhya Pradesh) to Kishangarh (Ajmer, Rajasthan).
“In its constant endeavor to connect the unconnected regions, Ministry of Civil Aviation awarded the Indore-Kishangarh route during the UDAN 3 bidding process to Star Air. With the commencement of this route, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has operationalised 268 routes under the UDAN scheme,” an official statement said.
Under RCS-UDAN scheme, Star Air is already operating direct flights from Belagavi to Indore and will now extend the same route till Rajasthan.
“The approximate distance between Indore and Kishangarh is around 550 kilometers and people had to spend more than 10 hours to reach Kishangarh from Indore by road. However, with the commencement of flight operations on this route, people can take one-hour flight and travel at ease and visit the famous Nine Planets temple, Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Pushkar Lake, Phool Mahal Palace, Roopangarh Fort, etc,” the statement said.
Kishangarh in Rajasthan is known as the Marble City of India and is a big market of red chilies.
Until now, there was no direct flight service available between Belagavi and Kishangarh, and to cover the distance of almost 1,550 kilometers between the cities, travelers had to suffer more than 24-hour journey by bus or train. With the inauguration of this route, people can now travel between Belagavi and Kishangarh in just 3 hours.
The Modi government has promised to make air travel affordable for common man and launched Udan scheme under which it provides a slew of incentives to lower the cost of air travel. The incentives include subsidy by way of lower tax rates, waiver of airport charges and other concessions. The ticket price has been capped at Rs 2,500 on RCS routes connecting smaller towns.