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New Delhi : Hardeep Singh Puri, MoS, I/C, Civil Aviation, on March 8, 2021, flagged off the first flight from Delhi to the newly upgraded Trishul Military Airbase, Bareilly Airport, Uttar Pradesh. Santosh Gangwar, MoS, I/C, Labour & Employment, and Member of Parliament, Bareilly, graced the event at the Delhi Airport by flagging off the All Women Crew operated Delhi –Bareilly Inaugural Flight on the International Women’s Day.
Pradeep Singh Kharola, Secretary, MoCA, and Rajiv Bansal, CMD, Air India, joined virtually. Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), was also present at the event. Other senior officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) & Airport Authority of India (AAI) also attended the event virtually.
The Bareilly airport has been upgraded for commercial flight operations under the Regional Connectivity Scheme – Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (RCS-UDAN) of the Government of India.
The flagging off marks the commencement of the 56th airport under the UDAN scheme and marks the successful operationalisation of the 8th airport of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Hindon, Agra, and Prayagraj. Now people can fly at ease by opting for a flight of 60 mins from Delhi to Bareilly while earlier they were forced to opt for a road travel of more than 6 hours or a train journey of more than 4 hours, according to a PIB trelease.
Trishul Military Airbase, Bareilly, belongs to the Indian Air Force and the land was handed over to the Airport Authority of India for construction of the interim civil aviation operations. The Government of India sanctioned Rs 88 crores under the UDAN scheme for the development of the interim civil aviation operations. The upgradation was undertaken by the AAI at a cost of Rs. 65 crore.
Alliance Air was awarded the Delhi – Bareilly route under the UDAN-4 bidding process last year. The airline will be deploying its ATR 72 600 aircraft having a seating capacity of 70 seats on this route.
To date, 325 routes and 56 airports including 5 heliports and 2 Water Aerodromes have been operationalised under the UDAN scheme. To keep the fares accessible to the common man, financial incentives in the form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) is being provided under the UDAN scheme from the Centre, State governments, and airport operators, to selected airlines to encourage operations from unserved and underserved airports under the scheme.
This aerial connectivity will fulfil the aspirations of the lakhs of people who visit Bareilly for the NathNagri (known for the four Shiva temples located in four corners of the region – DhopeshwarNath, MadniNath, AlakhaNath and TrivatiNath), Ala Hazrat, Shah Sharafat Miyan and Khankahe Niyazia, Zari nagari, and historically important sites like as Sanjashya (where the Buddha descended from Tushita to earth).
The city is also a center for furniture manufacturing and cotton, cereal and sugar trading. This air connectivity will fulfil the aspirations of people of Bareilly and the entire Uttar Pradesh. Apart from enhancing the aerial connectivity of the region, the flight operations will provide additional benefits to the trade, tourism, and local economy.