HAL clears use of Nashik's Ojhar airport for commercial services
14 Oct 2008
Mumbai: State-owned aerospace giant, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has given Kingfisher Airlines its approval to begin commercial services between Mumbai and Nashik. The service is expected to start by month-end, a top HAL official said.
"We have given approval to operate the flight from our Ojhar airport near Nashik and the first flight may take off around 25 October," HAL managing director, Prakash V Deshmukh, said. He said the aircraft would be a 40-seater ATR-42 type aircraft.
He also said he would be in touch with senior Kingfisher officials regarding the issue and would follow up with the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation in Delhi.
So far, the Ojhar airport has been restricted for Indian Air Force activity and is occasionally used for VIP flights. "We are also following up with Kingfisher to divert their recently-introduced Mumbai-Nanded-Latur flight via Nashik so that more passengers can be accommodated," Deshmukh said.
