Read more:Mihan India Limited|Low Cost Flights|Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport|Air India Express
NAGPUR: Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur is 'international' only for the record, with only one flight operating to foreign shores from here in the last two years. However, if officials of Mihan India Limited (MIL), the airport operator company, are to be believed, Nagpur may soon be connected again with international destinations like Singapore, Bangkok and Malaysia.
Along with this, Air India Express may resume international flight between Dubai and Nagpur. This route will be serviced by a flight on the Mumbai-Nagpur-Ahmedabad-Dubai sector. "The airline discontinued its service in January last year, but has now started putting in place plans to resume services from Nagpur," sources at the airport informed.
MIL officials have recently approached and requested Air Asia, world's largest international low cost airline, to start flights for designations like Singapore, Bangkok and Malaysia. A senior MIL official confirmed the offer extended to Air Asia officials to get all international facilities at Nagpur airport.
The Nagpur airport had achieved its aviation high some two years ago, with flights to four international destinations Qatar Airways to Doha, Air India Express to Dubai, Air India on Hyderabad-Nagpur-Bangkok sector and Air Arabia for Sharjah.
However, international connectivity went down fast, with private airline Qatar Airways discontinuing its Doha operations first. Then, Air India suspended operations on Hyderabad-Nagpur-Bangkok sector and Air India Express too discontinued the Dubai operations some time back. Presently, Air Arabia to Sharjah is the only international flight operated from the city.
An MIL official said requesting anonymity, "It was a wrong decision or a decision forced by the then civil aviation minister Praful Patel on Qatar Airways and Air India, mandating full fare flights on flights to Doha and Bangkok."
Though officials of both airlines said the reason to discontinue the flights were 'operational', sources confirmed that poor load factor, especially for full fare flights from the city and nearby cities, had forced the airlines to discontinue the flight.
An aviation industry expert said, "Initially, the flights received tremendous response from passengers as it attracted nearly 80% passengers from neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. It was convenient for these passengers to take a low-cost domestic flight or even travel by bus/train to Nagpur and board the flight to Dubai and Sharjah."
Air India flight to Bangkok was also operating at full load factor as it got passenger from both Hyderabad and Nagpur.
speakoutnagpur@timesgroup.com
NAGPUR: Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur is 'international' only for the record, with only one flight operating to foreign shores from here in the last two years. However, if officials of Mihan India Limited (MIL), the airport operator company, are to be believed, Nagpur may soon be connected again with international destinations like Singapore, Bangkok and Malaysia.
Along with this, Air India Express may resume international flight between Dubai and Nagpur. This route will be serviced by a flight on the Mumbai-Nagpur-Ahmedabad-Dubai sector. "The airline discontinued its service in January last year, but has now started putting in place plans to resume services from Nagpur," sources at the airport informed.
MIL officials have recently approached and requested Air Asia, world's largest international low cost airline, to start flights for designations like Singapore, Bangkok and Malaysia. A senior MIL official confirmed the offer extended to Air Asia officials to get all international facilities at Nagpur airport.
The Nagpur airport had achieved its aviation high some two years ago, with flights to four international destinations Qatar Airways to Doha, Air India Express to Dubai, Air India on Hyderabad-Nagpur-Bangkok sector and Air Arabia for Sharjah.
However, international connectivity went down fast, with private airline Qatar Airways discontinuing its Doha operations first. Then, Air India suspended operations on Hyderabad-Nagpur-Bangkok sector and Air India Express too discontinued the Dubai operations some time back. Presently, Air Arabia to Sharjah is the only international flight operated from the city.
An MIL official said requesting anonymity, "It was a wrong decision or a decision forced by the then civil aviation minister Praful Patel on Qatar Airways and Air India, mandating full fare flights on flights to Doha and Bangkok."
Though officials of both airlines said the reason to discontinue the flights were 'operational', sources confirmed that poor load factor, especially for full fare flights from the city and nearby cities, had forced the airlines to discontinue the flight.
An aviation industry expert said, "Initially, the flights received tremendous response from passengers as it attracted nearly 80% passengers from neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. It was convenient for these passengers to take a low-cost domestic flight or even travel by bus/train to Nagpur and board the flight to Dubai and Sharjah."
Air India flight to Bangkok was also operating at full load factor as it got passenger from both Hyderabad and Nagpur.
speakoutnagpur@timesgroup.com
No comments:
Post a Comment