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OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT May 8,
2005: Air Deccan is to finally get airborne to
Chandigarh-Delhi sector from May 9, 2005, a route
to which the airline was planning operations for
quite sometime, but kept on dithering citing
"unavoidable circumstances".
"We could not take off to the Chandigarh sector
due to unavoidable reasons, even though we had
planned for it in advance. Now we are finally
getting airborne," Deccan Aviation, (holding
company of Air Deccan) Managing Director G R
Gopinath said.
Air Deccan's tryst with Chandigarh skyline was
postponed several times in the past due to a
variety of reasons, including airport acquisition
management, availability of right timing slots and
shortage of pilots.
Air Deccan, which will fly daily flights between
Chandigarh and Delhi, has also announced flight
timings and fares. The Delhi-Chandigarh flight
will take off from Delhi at 5.55 am while the
return flight to the capital will depart at 7.15
am.
The fares will range from Rs 500 plus taxes, while
the airline is offering an inaugural price of Rs
1,499, which would be applicable till May 23,
2005. Air Deccan would deploy a 48-seater ATR
42-500 aircraft in this sector.
The flight timings have been designed in a manner
that puts Air Deccan in the earliest slot of the
day. The other two airlines operating between the
two cities are Indian Airlines and Jet Airways.
Air Deccan's flights will operate in the morning,
giving it an early start.
On the future plans of the company, Gopinath said
the carrier will look at connecting Ludhiana to
New Delhi. Air Deccan is also exploring the
possibility of extending the Chandigarh flight to
Kullu and Jammu. However, plans for these sectors
are yet to be firmed up.
Presently, Air Deccan connects Delhi to Kanpur,
Amritsar, Jaipur, Jammu, Dehradun, Lucknow and
Bhopal on the short-haul routes in the north.
OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT |
