Daily flights between Delhi and Shimla resume after 2-year halt

Alliance Air had announced plans to resume flight operations on the Delhi-Shimla route from September 6 but it could not do so due to inclement weather, and consequently the plan was put off till September 23 and then a new date was fixed for September 26

Shimla Daily flights between Shimla and Delhi resumed on Monday after a gap of two years. The Delhi to Shimla flight will depart at 7.10am daily, while the flight from Shimla to Delhi will take off at 8.50am daily, according to Alliance Air, the Air India subsidiary operating the flight.

Aircraft at the Delhi airport. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

“Flight 9I 821 will depart from Delhi at 0710 hrs and arrive in Shimla at 0820 hrs. Flight 9I 822 will depart from Shimla at 0850 hrs and arrive in Delhi at 1000 hrs. The introductory all-inclusive fares for Delhi-Shimla and Shimla-Delhi will be ₹2141,” the carrier said.

Hours after the first flight, the official Twitter handle of Alliance Air posted, “Alliance Air is pleased to re-commence Delhi-Shimla-Delhi flight. Hon’ble Minister of State (Civil Aviation) and Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh inaugurated the flight.”

At Jubbarhatti airport, 24km from Shimla, Lok Sabha member and Himachal Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party chief Suresh Kashyap said: “I’m happy that Shimla as a tourist destination has got this service again. I had raised this matter with the central government time and again. It was discussed extensively with Union minister of civil aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia and he assured us that the flight to Shimla will be resumed soon.”

Yash Vardhan Singh, deputy engineer, Alliance Air, said, “Alliance Air has expanded its connectivity in north India by recommencing its maiden regional connectivity scheme route Delhi-Shimla-Delhi, which will operate daily effective September 26.”

Alliance Air’s Delhi-Shimla flight was started in 2017, but was stopped in 2020 as the airline’s lease for the smaller ATR 42 aircraft expired. Since then, the airport has only seen helicopter taxi services or occasional chartered flights.

Earlier this year, Alliance Air had announced that it will operate a fixed-wing ATR 42-600 aircraft on the Delhi-Shimla route from September 6 but could not do so due to inclement weather. The plan was postponed till September 23 and then a new date was fixed for September 26. The carrier also plans to extend the flight to key tourist destinations Kullu and Dharamshala.

Himachal Pradesh chief secretary RD Dhiman met Alliance Air authorities in this regard on August 25.

The flight to Kullu from Shimla would operate four times a week and between Dharamshala and Shimla three times a week.