Uttarakhand soon to have direct connectivity to seven domestic airports
Have you been on a vacation or a trek to Uttarakhand? If yes, you must have experienced the pains of travelling on a bumpy and precarious road with the tyres of your bus or car barely cutting the corner of the road with a deep valley on one side. Now imagine traveling by air directly to Uttarakhand from your city’s domestic airport. That’s the plan of Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority With a view to bolster direct air connectivity between Uttarakhand and major Indian cities, the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) has unveiled an ambitious plan under the gambit of Uttarakhand Air Connectivity Scheme. ‘Uttarakhand’– India’s tourist hotspot will soon get direct connectivity from seven Indian cities - Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bhopal and Patna to start with.
This initiative with enhance the accessibility of Uttarakhand along with promotion of tourism, business as well as overall socio-economic development of the hilly state.
As a part of the process, UCADA has issued an Expression of Interest (EOI) to airlines and invited bids for seven new domestic routes. The scheme includes the provision of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) subsidies to encourage airlines to service these routes.
The VGF is specially announced to make these routes financially viable by providing subsidies to encourage airlines to service these routes. The VGF will be offered either through a cost-minus-revenue model or as a fixed subsidy per seat for unsold tickets, designed to make these routes financially viable.
The proposed routes include
- Direct flights from Jolly Grant Airport to Chennai, Bhopal, and Patna
- Direct flights from Pantnagar to Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kolkata
- Direct flight between Pithoragarh and Delhi
UCADA have selected these routes on basis of anticipated passenger demand and strategic importance. Explaining the viability of these routes based on customer demand Ravishankar said: “The Mumbai route will particularly benefit the business community involved with the State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Ltd. (SIDCUL). Meanwhile, the Bengaluru connection will facilitate easier travel for trekkers heading to the Kumaon region, and the Kolkata route will attract tourists from West Bengal