Alliance Air to start Bathinda-Delhi flight thrice a week from Oct 9
Bathinda airport station manager of AA Laxman Bhardwaj said on Tuesday that the company got an approval from the Union government on Tuesday.
After a halt of around three years, Alliance Air (AA) is set to resume Bathinda-Delhi flight from October 9.
A 48-seater plane will fly on alternate days thrice a week, except the weekends.
Bathinda airport station manager of AA Laxman Bhardwaj said on Tuesday that the company got an approval from the Union government on Tuesday.
Introductory airfare is kept at ₹1,999, he added.
“The flight will take off from Delhi on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1.25 pm and reach Bathinda at 2.40 pm. The return journey of the light would start at 3.05 pm and will hit land in Delhi at 4.15 pm. It is likely that passenger carrying capacity may be increased to 70, by including a bigger aircraft,” said Bhardwaj.
AA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata group’s Air India Limited. Air services to southwest Punjab’s only airport in Bathinda were started on December 12, 2016.
Bathinda, which had regular flights to Delhi and Jammu, is without air service for nearly three years now.
Air services of AA, the sole service provider from Bathinda, discontinued services on the Delhi route on November 28, 2020, whereas flights to Jammu were suspended on October 27, 2019, after its contract expired.
Later, AA was taken over by the Tatas after the disinvestment of this public sector organisation.
When the flights were grounded, the twin routes from Bathinda had an average occupancy of 80%.
An official of Airport Authority of India (AAI) said besides defence establishments in Bathinda, there is a central university. The opening of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and another state technical university offer ample scope of air passengers.
Flybig, a new private entrant of Big Charters, is another private aviation group that will connect Bathinda with the National Capital Region (NCR) from October 7.
It was expected to start services on Bathinda-Hindon in Ghaziabad in mid-September but could not begin due to technical issues.
Flybig’s station manager Rajesh Kumar said test flights were held successfully and commercial operations will commence from next week.
Flybig has roped in a 19-seater twin ottar aircraft that is tipped to fly five days a week.
