After five years, DelhiShimla flight finally set to take off

Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate flight on April 27 during his visit to state; Alliance Air to fly five days a week

After five years, regular flights from Delhi to Shimla and back will be resumed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the Delhi-Shimla flight at the airport, 35 km from Shimla, around noon on April 27. The flights will be resumed under the Centre’s Udan scheme, which aims to improve regional connectivity.

The flight will operate five days a week from Wednesday to Sunday.

The 42-seater plane will carry only 15 passengers.

“Shimla is a tabletop airport as it is located on a patch of flat land on a hill. Planes landing here can’t take off and land with full capacity,” Airport Authority of India (AAI), Shimla, director Sunil Magiwar said on Monday.

Tickets are available on the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation website and at the HPTDC office at Scandal Point on the Mall in Shimla.

“The ticket from Shimla to Delhi will cost ₹1,920 for 50% of the passengers. For the rest, there will be flexible pricing by the airlines,” state director, tourism and civil aviation, Dinesh Malhotra said.

From April 28, the flight will depart from Delhi at 6.10am and arrive in Shimla at 7.25am.

The flight will depart at 7.45am from Shimla and arrive in Delhi at 8.45am.

The airline is expected to run up a loss of ₹2-3 crore as it will not be flying to capacity. This will be reimbursed by the Centre under the scheme.

As a goodwill gesture, Alliance Air will fly two children from an orphanage in Shimla to Delhi and bring them back the next day. “They will be our special

guests,” said CS Subbiah, chief executive officer at Alliance Air, a subsidiary of national carrier Air India.

Though there were no flights operating for five years, AAI had 27 staffers working at the Shimla airport, while there were 62 personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force on duty too.

THE AIRLINE IS EXPECTED TO RUN UP A LOSS OF ₹23 CR IT WILL NOT BE FLYING TO CAPACITY. THIS WILL BE REIMBURSED BY THE CENTRAL GOVT

HT FILE Although there was no flight operating from the Shimla airport, 27 AII staffers besides 62 personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force were on duty there.