SpiceJet has resumed daily flight service on the Bengaluru-Puducherry sector on Thursday.
Four years after the low-cost private airline suspended its service in the sector, a 78-seater Bombardier SG 3419 landed at the airport here at 10.30 a.m.
The flight took off from the Bengaluru airport at 9.40 a.m. The return flight, SG 3420, took off from here at 10.50 a.m. and landed in Bengaluru at 12.10 p.m.
The flight was given a water cannon welcome as it taxied down the runway.
The private airline had in August last year started daily flight service between Puducherry and Hyderabad under the Centre’s flagship Regional Connectivity Scheme.
Earlier in 2013, the airliner had launched its service to Bengaluru but stopped its operations after two years. “We have re-launched the service after a detailed study and it will continue uninterrupted,” said an airline staff.
The inaugural flight had 73 in-bound passengers and 45 passengers for the out-bound trip.
Initiative welcomed
Those who travelled in the inaugural flight welcomed the initiative as they felt giving air connectivity between the two cities would improve tourist flow.
Rachna, a resident of Pune, said the flight was convenient for her family.
“We landed at Bengaluru this morning and could catch the flight to Puducherry. It would have been a tedious journey otherwise. Now we can spend more time here and it helped us in save money for travel,” she said.
As a weekend tourist destination, Puducherry attracts maximum visitors from Bengaluru and Chennai.
“We have been pushing for air connectivity between the two cities for a long time. Though the air connectivity was given a few years ago, the operator stopped it. The new initiative will certainly bring more tourists here,” said an official with Tourism department.
Passengers from several cities are connected to the in-bound flight to Puducherry. The schedule had been planned to give passengers connecting flights from Bengaluru to Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi.
