Puducherry on Wednesday regained a spot in the aviation map with the resumption of flight services on the Puducherry-Hyderabad sector.
A 78-seater SpiceJet Bombardier, SEJ 1004, from Hyderabad landed at the airport with full capacity around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
The return flight, SEJ 1005, with 76 passengers took off to Hyderabad around 12:00 p.m.
The entire Cabinet, led by Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, ruling party legislators, Chief Secretary Manoj Parida and senior officials were present at the airport to witness the resumption of flight operations.
The resumption of flight operations at the Puducherry airport, under the Centre’s flagship Regional Connectivity Scheme, ended about two years of hibernation, since Alliance Air had suspended its operation after six months following differences with the government over subsidy.
SpiceJet launched flight services in 2013 with direct flights connecting Puducherry and Bengaluru, but stopped its operations after about a year.
SpiceJet Head of Airports and Ground Services Suman Rautelaa said they are very optimistic on the Hyderabad-Puducherry sector. “We have selected the route after a lot of ground work. For the next six days, we already have more than 60% capacity," he added.
The flight would take off from Hyderabad at 10:00 a.m. and arrive in Puducherry at 11:20 a.m. The return journey would resume around 11:40 a.m., he said.
