Source – hindustantimes.com
Come summer, and Chandigarh will have direct air connectivity to important domestic destinations such as Goa, Patna, Surat and Chennai, taking care of both leisure trips and official business of residents.
The summer flight schedule, which will be enforced at Chandigarh International Airport on March 29, has another good news for travellers — the number of flights are proposed to be doubled from 32 to 65.
However, putting a dampener on this welcome development, the schedule makes no provision for new international flights even as 24×7 operations became a reality at the airport in April last year. Only the two existing flights to the UAE — Sharjah and Dubai — have been listed.
Meanwhile, IndiGo is all set to resume its Dubai flight from February 15. The flight was suspended from December 14 onwards, citing cancellations and delays due to poor visibility.
IndiGo to operate 28 flights
IndiGo is likely to operate 28 of the 65 proposed flights. These include flights to Goa, Chennai, Surat and Patna. The one to Goa will take off past midnight. Even GoAir will operate a flight from Goa to Chandigarh.
Vaneet Sharma, director of a travel agency in Sector 17, said the new destinations will boost pan-India connectivity and also help in boarding international flights from Delhi. “For going to Goa, people first have to go to Delhi, but now it will be easier for them to reach the tourist destination. Moreover, the flight timings are very flexible.”
Sanjeev Vashisht, member of the airport advisory committee, who is also former president of the Mohali Industry Association, said the new destinations, especially Goa and Patna, will boost the tourism sector. “We are hopeful that international flights will start from October this year after installation of the advanced instrument landing system CAT-3,” he said.
Welcoming the direct flight to Patna, Jatinder Pal Singh, senior vice-president, gurdwara coordination committee, Mohali, said: “It was a long-pending demand of residents of our region, as Patna Sahib is the birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh. Devotees have to travel by train, which takes a long time. Now, they will be able to take a direct flight.”
New domestic destinations
Flight to and from Goa, Surat and Chennai will begin on March 29.
IndiGo flight 6E-6137 will arrive at Chandigarh from Goa at 6:40am and will depart for Ahmedabad from Chandigarh at 8:10am.
GoAir flight G8-814 will arrive at Chandigarh from Goa at 9:45am and will depart for Surat (G8-815) at 10:15am.
IndiGo flight 6E-6147 will arrive at Chandigarh from Bengaluru at 11pm and the same flight (6E-6144) will depart to Goa after midnight at 12:40am.
IndiGo will also provide direct connectivity between Chandigarh and Chennai. Flight 6E-8052/8053 will arrive at Chandigarh at 1:30pm and depart for Chennai at 2pm.
IndiGo is also going to operate two flights between Chandigarh and Patna from March 30.
The first flight (6E-6141) will arrive from Ahmedabad at 11:35am and then depart for Patna (6E-6148) at 12:05pm.
The second flight (6E-6926) will arrive from Patna at 6:35pm and will resume its return journey at 7:05pm.
All these flights will operate six days a week, from Monday to Saturday.