Hit by low occupancy, Bathinda-Jammu flight frequency set to go down
To fly only thrice a week instead of 5 days this winter, with Bathinda as layover on Delhi-Jammu route
Bathinda With the average occupancy of the Bathinda-Jammu flight remaining stuck at 70% on all five days of the week, Alliance Air has decided to bring down its frequency to thrice a week.
The change will come into effect once the Bathinda airport implements the winter schedule. Alliance Air, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India, is the sole carrier connecting the two cities.
“According to the winter schedule, which will be implemented in the last week of October, a single 70-seater ATR-72 plane operating between Jammu and Delhi will have a brief layover at the Bathinda airport. It will operate on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday,” said airport director Dinesh Kumar.
At present, the Bathinda-Jammu flight operates five days a week, with a break on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Meanwhile, the Alliance Air flies to Delhi on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. This, too, is the only flight between the two cities and has an average occupancy of 80%. While its frequency will remain the same — at thrice a week — the schedule will change.
Operating since Feb 2018
Set up at a cost of ₹5 crore at Virk Kalan village, about 30km from Bathinda city, in October 2012, the airport is located adjacent to the Indian Air Force station in Bhisiana.
It is running under the Prime Minister’s Udan scheme that promotes low-fare flights to enhance regional air connectivity. While the flight to Delhi took off for the first time on December 11, 2016, the Jammu route was added on February 27, 2018.
Officials privy to the development said keeping in view the occupancy trend, the airline is working on reducing the cost of operations by using only one plane to cover the three destinations.
As per the proposed schedule, the flight will take off from Delhi at 9.20am and land in Bathinda at 10.40am. Thereafter, the same plane will leave for Jammu at 11.05am and return to Bathinda at 1.55pm. It will resume its journey to Delhi at 2.20pm.
Dr Vitull K Gupta, chairperson of Association of Physicians of India (Malwa branch), said as an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is coming up in Bathinda, the central government should add more regular flights to the city.
“As of now, there is no proposal to link other cities with Bathinda. However, depending upon the demand, the airlines may start new flights to other routes,” said Dinesh Kumar.
