Ballari-Hyderabad flight service takes off

‘Efforts are on to extend UDAN scheme to many more tier II cities in the country’

Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha flagging off the first flight at JSW airport in Toranagal on Thursday.

The first flight service between Vijayanagar (Toranagal) and Hyderabad was flagged off by Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, as part of the UDAN (Ude Desh Ke Aam Nagarik) initiative, from Jindal airport here on Thursday.

The inaugural flight, operated daily by the Hyderabad-based TruJet, took off from Hyderabad at 6.25 a.m. and landed in Jindal airport at 7.31 a.m. Around 30 passengers alighted. In the return direction, the 72-seater plane, with around 40 passengers on board, took off at 8.01 a.m.

Mr. Sinha said efforts were on to extend UDAN scheme to many more tier II cities in the country to give a boost to tourism, economy, trade and commerce, besides enabling the common man to fly at affordable rates.

“Our policy package under UDAN has been made very attractive and we have ensured that both operator and passenger benefit. This policy of our government has enabled private operators to come forward to provide regional connectivity. Accordingly, with 30 more airports added, economic growth of the regions and tourism will be boosted,” he said.

Mr. Sinha said flight services are already available in Belagavi, Hubballi, Mysuru and Ballari in in Karnataka, and a few more places would be added to this list. “TruJet has promised to introduce flight services between Vijayanagar and Bengaluru very soon. We are also planning to link Vijayanagar with Goa in order to attract tourists to Hampi,” he said. He said the question of increasing the number of flight services depended on the demand.

Labour Minister Santosh Lad, in his address, said the introduction of flight services would immensely benefit the region, but recalled the State government’s contribution in building the required infrastructure for providing air connectivity to various districts.

B. Sriramulu, MP, Sajjan Jindal, chairman and managing director of JSW Group, also spoke on the occasion. Karadi Sanganna, Koppal MP; K.C. Kondaiah, MLC; B.S. Anand Singh, MLA; Umesh, CEO of TruJet; Vinod Nowal, head of JSW Steel; Ramprasath Manohar, Deputy Commissioner; and K.V. Rajendra, zilla panchayat CEO, were present.