Two direct flights launched from Darbhanga to Ahmedabad & Mumbai

PATNA: Budget carrier SpiceJet launched two direct flights from Darbhanga to Ahmedabad and Mumbai on Wednesday.
The Ahmedabad-Darbhanga flight (SG-119), which was scheduled to arrive at 10.45am, landed at the Darbhanga airport at 12.40pm. It was diverted to Varanasi due to bad weather in Darbhanga. Later, SG-120 left for Ahmedabad at 1.40pm instead of 11.15am.
SpiceJet officials told this newspaper that the flight was rerouted due to a sudden drop in visibility at the Darbhanga airport for a short period of time.
The Mumbai-Darbhanga-Mumbai flight (SG-157/158), on the other hand, reached Darbhanga on its scheduled time at 4pm and left for Mumbai at 4.30pm.
Airport director Biplab Kumar Mondal said the number of flights operating from Darbhanga had increased to six from four, including three under the Centre’s Regional Connectivity Scheme.
“With rise in air traffic, adequate steps have been taken to ensure smooth passenger flow. Now, the Airports Authority of India is planning to increase the capacity of the security hold area till the time a permanent building comes up. Extra chairs have added and more security personnel deployed to assist the passengers,” the airport director added.
The Darbhanga airport, which is operating fights on the Delhi (2), Mumbai (2), Ahmedabad (1) and Bengaluru (1) routes at present, has handled around 1.12 lakh passengers and 650 flights in the last four months. The number of flights will increase to eight by March-end with two more fights to Kolkata and Pune. Bookings have already begun.
Flight operations at the airport were launched on November 8 last year.