In the wake of inclement weather at the Shimla airport, flight operations on the Delhi-Shimla route, which were to resume on September 6 after a two-year hiatus, have been postponed until further notice.
In a statement, Alliance Air, the Government of India-owned air carrier, said, “As per the forecast, the weather conditions will not be appropriate for flight operations for the next couple of weeks. Accordingly, the launch has been postponed till further notice.”
It is likely that the air carrier will resume flights on the route after September 23. The move is expected to give a fillip to tourism in the hill state.
“Since the flights to and from Shimla will not be operating for a short period, hence passengers who have already booked their tickets may either opt for a full refund or avail a change of date free-of-cost,” the air carrier said .
Government officials said Alliance Air could not resume the flights as they had not been able to carry out a trial run at the Shimla airport. Being a table-top airport, the plane cannot take off at full capacity from Shimla amid air turbulence.
“Carrying out a trial landing was not possible due to adverse weather conditions and without it the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA does not give permission to fly. Hence, the delay,” said director, tourism and civil aviation, Amit Kashyap, who is also the managing director of Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation.
{{/usCountry}}“Carrying out a trial landing was not possible due to adverse weather conditions and without it the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA does not give permission to fly. Hence, the delay,” said director, tourism and civil aviation, Amit Kashyap, who is also the managing director of Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation.
{{/usCountry}}Alliance Air will operate a fixed-wing aircraft, ATR 42-600,on the route and will also extend flights to key tourist destinations. On August 25, Himachal Pradesh chief secretary RD Dhiman had met Alliance Air authorities to discuss providing air connectivity to Kullu and Dharamshala.
The flight will depart from Delhi at 6.25 am and reach Shimla at 7.35 am, while the return flight will take off from Shimla at 8 am and land in Delhi at 9.10 am. The introductory all-inclusive fare will be ₹2,480 per head.
Flights on the Delhi-Shimla-Delhi route will operate seven days a week, those on the Shimla-Kullu-Shimla will operate four times a week and those on the Dharamshala-Shimla route three times a week.
Alliance Air’s Delhi-Shimla flight was started in 2017, but was discontinued in 2020 as the airline’s lease for the smaller ATR 42 aircraft expired. Since then, the airport has only seen heli-taxi services or occasional chartered flights.