Airlines eye to tap Diwali rush of passengers, propose to add new flights to Patna in winter
If approved by the Airports Authority of India, the number of daily scheduled departures from Patna could go up from 32 to 44 by February 2018.
To tap the huge rush of fliers during the festive season, Jet Airways and GoAir will operate three flights from Patna — one each to Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
The airlines are eyeing to tap the post-Dussehra and pre-Diwali and Chhath festival rush of passengers. While Jet will operate two flights — one each to Delhi and Bengaluru — GoAir will add an additional flight to Mumbai.
The Delhi-Patna-Delhi Jet flight (9W-711/ 9W-710) will be operational from October 1 to 28. The flight will leave Delhi at 6.35am and reach here at 8.05am. On its return, it will leave Patna at 8.35am and reach the national capital at 10.05am.
Till last year, the Jet used to have a morning connection between Delhi and Patna until it was discontinued due to operational reasons.
Jet’s Bengaluru-Patna-Bengaluru flight (9W-959/ 9W-960) will leave the Silicon Valley of India at 5.50am and reach Patna at 8.40am. On its return, it will leave Patna at 9.10am and reach Bengaluru at 11.55am.
Tickets for both the Jet flights were open for sale, said an executive of the airline.
GoAir will operate an additional flight between Mumbai and Patna from October 3 to 28, excluding October 15. The flight (G8-583) will depart from Mumbai at 4.10pm and reach here at 6.35pm. On its return, flight G8-584 will leave Patna at 7.05pm and reach Mumbai at 9.25pm
Airport sources said 12 new flights could be added in a staggered manner between December and February. The winter schedule of airlines becomes effective from October 29 and continues till March.
If approved by the AAI, which faces severe infrastructure constraint at the Jay Prakash Narayan International airport at Patna, the number of daily scheduled departures from Patna could go up from 32 to 44 by February next.
The IndiGo, for instance, had proposed to introduce a new flight between Varanasi and Patna, besides adding additional flights to Chennai, Hyderabad and Lucknow. Similarly, SpiceJet and GoAir had also proposed more flights to Patna, all of which were pending approval from the AAI.