Regularise lone Delhi flight from Ludhiana, Centre asks operator

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, January 10

In what appears to be a ray of hope for fliers, the Union Government has asked the assigned private operator to regularise the operations of the lone flight between Ludhiana and Delhi.

The action came after Rajya Sabha MP from Ludhiana Sanjeev Arora took up the matter with the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The development assumes significance as the much-sought after flight had operated for less than a month in the past over four months ever since it took off with much fanfare.

Taking a serious note of the matter, the Union Government has pulled up the private carrier, which was awarded the daily flight under the RCS – UDAN 4.2 round of bidding in September.

Arora had taken up the issue of erratic and irregular flight operations with the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Jyotiraditya M Scindia.

With the flight not operating continuously for the past nine days, daily fliers are irked and have been left high and dry.

Responding to Arora’s communication, Union Civil Aviation Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam told the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member in the Upper House of Parliament from Punjab that the Ludhiana domestic airport, being a VFR airfield, required a minimum visibility of 5 km for flight operations.

He said several flights in September and October were cancelled due to the aircraft operator’s own operations or technical reasons while some were cancelled or diverted due to visibility issues at the Ludhiana airport.

“Your request has been forwarded to FlyBig airlines to regularise the flight operations on the Hindon-Ludhiana-Hindon UDAN RCS route,” the Union Civil Aviation Secretary told Arora.

However, the private carrier, Big Charter Private Limited, which runs the FlyBig airlines, has attributed the irregular flight operations to bad weather.

“If the authorities concerned fail to provide alternative arrangements for operating flights in the absence of poor visibility at the Sahnewal domestic airport, we will be constrained to suspend the flight operations for at least the winter season,” FlyBig Managing Director (MD) Sanjay Mandavia had earlier told The Tribune.

In his letter to Scindia, the Rajya Sabha MP, who had taken the inaugural flight and was the guest of honour at the inaugural ceremony, had expressed concern over the erratic flight operations between Delhi and Ludhiana.

“As you are aware, this sector was awarded to Big Charter under the UDAN scheme, which aims to provide affordable and accessible air connectivity to the common man. However, the carrier has been reluctant to regularly fly five times a week as per the schedule,” Arora had said while stating that despite the Centre’s assistance under the UDAN scheme, the negligent and unprofessional behaviour on part of the carrier was denting the hopes of the passengers flying to and fro Ludhiana and Delhi.

The parliamentarian said it was not only causing inconvenience and frustration to the passengers but also affecting the economic and social development of Ludhiana, which was one of the major industrial hubs of the North.

“Moreover, it was tarnishing the image and reputation of the UDAN scheme, which is a flagship initiative of the Centre,” he further wrote while urging the Civil Aviation Minister to investigate the matter with seriousness and instruct the carrier to operate flights as per schedule without any further delay.

Arora had also sought action against the carrier for violating the terms and conditions of the UDAN scheme.

According to official records, the flight operated for only 28 days since it was launched in September and it remained grounded/ cancelled for the rest of almost three months.

While no flight had operated continuously since November 23, a single flight was conducted on November 22 after a continuous gap of one week.

The month-wise data showed that the flight operated for only eight days in November, nine days in October, 11 days in September, and not operated at all since December last.

Travellers irked

Local residents, especially industrialists, who regularly commute to Delhi, are forced to either travel by road or take flight to Delhi from Mohali following the irregular flight operations from Sahnewal.

Poor visibility: Airlines

Big Charter MD Sanjay Mandavia while citing poor visibility at the Sahnewal domestic airport as the main reason for non-operation of flights has complained that they were neither allowed to land or take off from the IAF strip at Sahnewal nor at the international airport in Mohali if their flights fail to get requisite visibility for landing and taking off from the Sahnewal domestic airport.

“Not only the passengers but we are also aggrieved over the irregular flight operations,” Mandavia asserted while adding that he had told the Civil Aviation Ministry to provide them alternative arrangements at least during the winter season for operating the flights, otherwise they would be constrained to suspend the operations.

Irregular operations

The extent of irregularity in flight operations could be gauged from the fact that it had operated for only eight days in November, nine days in October, 11 days in September and not a single day since December last.

Had resumed after 3 years

After remaining off air for over three years since August 2020, Ludhiana had returned on the air map with the resumption of a direct flight to and fro Delhi on September 6.

It was only after RS MP Sanjeev Arora had impressed upon the Civil Aviation Ministry that the flight was launched from the Sahnewal domestic airport till the time the upcoming international airport at Halwara near Ludhiana takes off.

Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen VK Singh (retd) had flagged off the inaugural flight from Delhi while Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann had received it at domestic airport in Sahnewal.

Punjab bearing 68% fare

After the CM had announced a whopping 68 per cent cut in the fare, the private operator had announced to charge only Rs 999 for one-way journeys between Ludhiana and Delhi for the first three months, instead of the original price of Rs 3,148.

To compensate the operator, the state government had announced to bear the viability gap funding (VGF) on all 19 tickets by paying the deficit of Rs 2,149 per ticket to benefit the travellers.

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