Kolhapur's first Tirupati flight takes off with 63 onboard

KOLHAPUR: After a long wait, the first flight to Tirupati took off from Kolhapur airport on Sunday morning.
The IndiGo flight took off from Kolhapur airport for Tirupati with 63 passengers on-board. Airline officials said there is a huge demand for the service, especially from the devotees of Balaji and Mahalakshmi. A large number of devotees from the district visit Tirupati during this period every year.According to the airport authorities, the flight service to Tirupati is booked till July 14.
Passengers on-board the IndiGo flight from Hyderabad were greeted with local performances at the airport.
The Alliance Airlines has started the service from Hyderabad to Kolhapur. The airport officials claimed that the flight service from Kolhapur to Pune and Ahmedabad will start soon.
"We are ensuring that the flight service from Kolhapur airport continues to serve the locals without interruptions. Though the flight service to Mumbai has stopped owing to non-availability of slots at the Mumbai airport, the flight to Bengaluru has been started for which we are getting good response," said a senior airport official on the condition of anonymity.
Initially the air fare for Tirupati was around Rs 1,900 but in the last days of booking for Sunday's flight, the ticket charges went up to almost Rs 5,200. The flight service to Tirupati is likely to be interrupted during the monsoon as the weather at both places may be too unpleasant for air travel.
The airport authorities said services to Tirupati, Hyderabad and Bengaluru are not included in the Regional Connectivity Scheme (UDAAN) of the Centre and, therefore, passengers have to bear the cost entirely.
The RCS is a subsidised scheme and passengers booking in advance can get tickets at cheaper rates.