‘Air taxi’ to link Chandigarh with Dehradun from Feb 10. All you need to know

Chandigarh is set to get connected via air to Dehradun through an air taxi service to the capital of Uttarakhand starting from February 10. The service will be available for seven days a week and has been launched under the Udan scheme of the central government. Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar inaugurated the air taxi service on January 14 and said, "For the first time in the country, a small aircraft in the form of an air taxi is being used for services."

Here’s everything you need to know about the air taxi between Chandigarh and Dehradun:

1. The air taxi service will be operated by AirTaxi India which was granted the permit by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in December 2020. The airline has around 26 routes under the Udan scheme.

2. The purpose of the air taxi service is to provide air connectivity between metros and tier-2, tier-3 cities across the country.

3. AirTaxi will be using Tecnam P2006T aircrafts, a twin-engine four-seat plane, made by Costruzioni Aeronautiche Tecnam for the air taxi services.

4. The air taxi has the capacity to seat one pilot and three passengers and a range of 742 nautical miles.

5. The cost of the service is Rs. 1,755 per seat.

6. The flight will take approximately 1 hour to reach Dehradun at Jolly Grant airport and will fly at 6,000 feet above sea level. The Dehradun flight will connect Chandigarh with Haridwar, Rishikesh and Mussoorie.

7. By road, it takes more than 4 hours to reach Dehradun from Chandigarh and by bus it takes around 5 hours to make the journey.

8. Bookings for the service can be made online. The company has also provided the facility of private booking for which the fare will be different.