Over two years on, Shimla-Delhi flight stays a non-starter

Shimla, September 6

The much-awaited Shimla-Delhi flight, which was to be resumed today after two and a half years, failed to take off as Alliance Air postponed the flight indefinitely citing inclement weather.

“The flight has been postponed due to bad weather around the Shimla airport. As per the forecast, the weather will not be appropriate for flights for a couple of weeks,” said Alliance Air.

“Since the flight from Shimla will not be operating for some time, passengers may either opt for a full refund or do a date change free of cost,” said an Air Alliance spokesperson. Even though the monsoon is almost over, postponement of the flight came as a surprise to most. Sources said the resumption of the flight had to be deferred as the trial landing could not take place last week due to heavy rain. As such, the entire exercise of obtaining a fresh clearance from the Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) and undertaking trial flights will have to be done all over again. The flight was likely to be resumed by the end of September, said sources.

However, prolonged delay in the resumption of the flight would not be in the interests of the tourism industry as a large number of tourists from West Bengal and Gujarat arrive here during the puja holidays.

The hotel and tourism industry had been seeking resumption of the flight from the Jubbarhatti airport near Shimla. While regular flights are being operated from the two airports at Gaggal near Dharamsala and Bhuntar near Kullu, Shimla has had no commercial flight for the past two and a half years. — TNS

Weather to blame

• Alliance flight put off indefinitely
• DGCA nod must to restart ops