First direct flight operations flagged off from Kalaburagi to Hindon

Kalaburagi: The first direct flight operations from Kalaburagi in Karnataka to Hindon Airport in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, were flagged off on Wednesday under the Regional Connectivity Scheme Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (RCS-UDAN).

Star Air was awarded the Kalaburagi-Hindon route under the RCS-UDAN-3 bidding process last year. The airline would be operating three weekly flights on the route and would deploy its 50-seater Embraer-145 luxury aircraft, an official statement said.

With this addition, there would be 16 routes under the ambit of RCS-UDAN for Star Air, it said. Situated at less than 30 kms from New Delhi, Hindon airport belongs to the Indian Air Force and the land was handed over to Airports Authority of India (AAI) for development of the new civil enclave.

IAF granted necessary permissions for the usage of airbase for civilian flights under UDAN scheme. Kalaburagi airport, 13.8 kms from this district headquarters town, has been operationalised under UDAN to boost the aerial connectivity of Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities of the country.

“Till date, 295 routes and 53 airports including five heliports and two Water Aerodromes have been operationalised under the UDAN scheme”, it was stated.