Tickets for first flights from Mumbai to smaller cities in Maharashtra sold out

The Maharashtra Airport Development Company, airport operator for Nashik and Jalgaon, said all the 19-seater aircraft are booked fully

The first flights from Mumbai to Jalgaon, Pune, Nashik and Kolhapur, scheduled to start from December 23, were sold out a week in advance.

The tickets for first flights from Mumbai to smaller cities were sold out a week in advance. (Representational Image)

The Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), airport operator for Nashik and Jalgaon, said all the 19-seater aircraft have been booked.

Air Deccan is to commence its operations under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), which aims to improve air connectivity to smaller cities and making air travel affordable, will be operating in sectors such as Jalgaon-Mumbai, Nashik-Mumbai, Kolhapur-Mumbai and Nashik-Pune. Daily flights will be operated between Nashik-Mumbai and Jalgaon-Mumbai.

Suresh Kakani, managing director of MADC, said: “Seats are booked for the entire week and looking at the demand, we are expecting flights to run full for a longer time.”

While Air Deccan will be connecting Mumbai to Pune and Jalgaon from December 23, senior officials said operations to Kolhapur will start from the next day. Airports Authority of India (AAI) will be operating Kolhapur airport. These airports are to commence operations under the RCS, or the Udey Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN). Under UDAN, air fares are capped at Rs2,500 per seat for tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

Air Deccan, the country’s first domestic low cost airline, was grounded in 2012 due to financial losses and was merged with Kingfisher airlines in 2008. Kingfisher is now defunct and Air Deccan is relaunching its operations under UDAN. While passengers will be able to participate in a lottery that will offer tickets for Rs 1, most tickets will start at about Rs 1,400 (for a seat on Nashik-Mumbai).