To meet demand, more Kullu-Delhi flights sought

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Kullu, May 26

The beneficiaries of the tourism industry have urged the Central Government-owned Alliance Air, the sole airline operating here, to operate additional flights on the Kullu-Chandigarh-Delhi route.

Arvind Sharma, a retired insurance lawyer, often travels between Kullu and Delhi. “It would be helpful if there were more flights available,” says Sharma. “Also, the fares would go down.”

Bhupender Thakur, patron of the Kullu Travel Agents Association, says, “Seats in the Kullu-Delhi flight are available after about one week. The situation will worsen after the tourist footfall increases during the peak season. The airline should start additional daily flights with a stopover in Chandigarh using the same aircraft that is operating flights between Delhi, Kullu and Amritsar every day.”

Travel agent Vikrant says that the airline should start additional flights considering the demand, and the same flight can run at least twice a day. He adds that having an additional flight would increase the availability of tickets for commuters and lead to better fares. Kullu-Manali

Airport Advisory Committee member Budhi Prakash Thakur, says, “The matter of the extension of the runway at the Bhuntar airport has been hanging fire for the past over two decades. Most airlines do not have infrastructure to operate small planes and

bigger planes will be able to operate here after the runway is expanded, which will encourage other airlines to operate flights to Kullu.” Many surveys have been conducted for the expansion of the airport’s runway but they have remained only on paper. Senior officials of the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, teams of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and experts from IIT-Roorkee had carried out surveys to explore the possibility of the extension of the runway at the Bhuntar airport. AAI officials had earlier stated that the government would have to acquire land for the runway expansion as the airport authorities do not bear the land acquisition cost.