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Alliance Air’s operates new flight on Delhi-Kullu route
The average airfare from Kullu-Manali airport at Bhuntar to Delhi is above INR 18,631, which goes up to INR 25,771 at times, while the lowest airfare on limited seats is INR 15,113. Airfare from Delhi to Kullu is above INR 15,000, which often shoots up to INR 25,853.Flight tickets to many foreign countries are cheaper than this route, rue local residents. “Only one flight is operating on this route. This lone flight conducts sorties between Delhi and Kullu via Chandigarh from Monday to Saturday, there is only one direct sortie between Delhi and Kullu every Sunday. Unfortunately, the 30 to 35 minutes flight from Kullu to Chandigarh costs INR 11,333 to INR 17,791, which is beyond the reach of the common people.
However, people in medical or other emergencies are forced to buy the ticket,” said a source. Before August 16, an ATR 72 aircraft, which generally has 70 to 78 seats, was operating on this route. However, the aircraft was not able to land or take-off with full capacity as the runway in Kullu airport is just 1,052 metres long.
“This load penalty was causing hike in the airfare. That was the reason politicians and hoteliers were demanding a small aircraft like ATR 42 to finish the load penalty and bring down airfare. But despite getting a smaller aircraft, the airline is still charging astronomical airfare in the name of load penalty,” said a local.
Earlier, Kingfisher Airlines used to conduct sorties between Delhi and Kullu with an ATR 42 (500 series) aircraft from 2010 to 2012 without any load penalty, and the airfare too was reasonable. Now, experts say the ATR 42 (600 series), with advanced features, should be capable of flying without load penalty, which will ultimately result in low airfare.
Budhi Parkash, member of Airport Advisory Committee in Kullu Manali, said that the government was planning to operate the Delhi-Chandigarh-Kullu flight with a stoppage in Shimla, “which wouldn’t be beneficial.” Alliance Air’s Station Manager, Amit Nanda refused to comment.
Source : Travel World
