Air India to connect tier-II cities with metros
19 Apr 2011
New Delhi/Gwalior: Looking to connect tier-II cities with metros, state-owned carrier Air India launched a daily Delhi-Gwalior-Mumbai-Gwalior-Delhi flight on Monday and said it intends to open up five to six more such routes in the coming months.
"After this, Air India will be launching the Delhi- Ranchi-Kolkata flight very soon with an aim to connect the non-metro cities with metros," civil aviation minister, Vayalar Ravi, said after flagging off the Gwalior-Mumbai flight at the Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia airport in Gwalior.
The airline had been operating a thrice-a-week, Delhi-Gwalior flight with an ATR aircraft, but now it has upgraded the route to a daily service with a 122-seater Airbus 319.
Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav said the airline would be launching more such flights this summer.
"Our effort is to provide air connectivity to tier-II cities with metros. Since most of the slots for the direct flights were full, these flights would provide better connectivity to both the metros and the tier-II cities," Jadhav said.
With respect to Kolkata, Jadhav said though the carrier had demand for additional frequency but it was unable to get a prime slot. Hence, it would fly to Ranchi and then to Kolkata, and in the process not only provide connectivity to Ranchi but also provide an additional service to Kolkata.
.webp)
