Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Thursday launched intra-state air service named 'PM Shri Paryatan Vayu Seva' by flagging off the first flight under it from Bhopal to Jabalpur. He also gave boarding passes to the flyers and opened a ticket-booking counter.

With this, Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Ujjain, Rewa, Khajuraho and Singrauli cities in Madhya Pradesh will be getting connected by air, officials said. To boost the air service, a 50 per cent discount in fare has been doled out for 30 days, they said.

Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) will operate the air service. It is being run on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis with M/s Jet Serv Aviation Private Limited (Flyola), an official release said.

According to some flyers, the fare of the intra-state service will be little more than the tariff of Vande Bharat Express train after a 50 per cent discount for 30 days. They said that it will take just 55 minutes to reach Indore from Bhopal via the air service.

"On the basis of the response, we are going to expand the service," MPTB principal secretary and managing director Sheo Shankar Shukla told PTI over phone. "Right now, the planes which are being run are six-seater with twin engines. If the response is good, we will go for 11-seater and then 20-seater aircraft and so on to expand the service," he added.

"These planes are very safe and meet international standards. We are going to provide the best and regular service at competitive prices," Shukla said.