Costly Kullu-Delhi flight a tourist deterrent

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, March 9

Alliance Air has raised the one-way maximum fare for the Kullu-Delhi sector to Rs 25,742 and tickets are available at this price till the mid of August.

Earlier, air tickets for flights in this sector would cost from Rs 16,000 to Rs 23,000. The Alliance Air authorities say that the flights are fully booked and that is why tickets are available at higher prices as only limited seats are available. The minimum fare for the Kullu-Delhi flight is around Rs 14,000 but tickets have already being sold.

The airport at Bhuntar was selected under the Prime Minister’s UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme in 2016 to make flying more affordable for people.

Alliance Air is the frontrunner in promoting the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) of the Central Government. However, the airfares for the Kullu-Delhi flights have always remained exorbitant. Even Pawan Hans operates helicopters on the Kullu-Shimla-Chandigarh route for Rs 6,680 per ticket under the UDAN scheme for three days a week, but the eight-seater helicopter is allowed to carry only four or five persons and the maximum baggage allowed per person is 10 kg.

Atul Sharma, a frequent flyer, says that the Kullu-Delhi flights are the most expensive. Another traveller says that the 80-minute flight from Kullu to Delhi is at least three times more expensive than the three hours flight to Trivandrum from Delhi.

Bhupender Thakur, chief patron of the Kullu Travel Agents Association, says that the fares of the Kullu-Delhi flights should be revised to a justifiable level. He adds that the Civil Aviation Ministry should direct other major airlines to operate flights in the Delhi-Kullu-Delhi sector under the UDAN scheme.

He says that the beneficiaries of the tourism industry have been demanding more regular flights to Kullu but no political leader, from both the Congress and the BJP, has been able to pursue the matter and do anything. Shorter runway of the Bhuntar airport is another deterrent that dissuades other airlines from starting operations here while its expansion has been hanging fire for over two decades.

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