Flight service from Salem airport to commence next month

Salem: In all probability flight service from Salem airport under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) of the Ministry of Civil Aviation is likely to commence by next month.

G.K. Chaukiyal, Executive Director (RCS) at Airports Authority of India (AAI), in an e-mail message to K. Mariappan, president of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Salem, has said that the Hyderabad-based Turbo Megha Airways Private Limited has intimated the AAI of commencing the flight service from Salem airport in the first week of December. Air Odisha is likely to commence its operation from Salem airport by the middle of February next year.

It may be recalled that the AAI has already signed MoUs with these flight operators.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation only a few days ago had changed the status of Salem Airport to “served airport” from “underserved and unserved” status, to enable the introduction of flight service.
19/11/17 The Hindu

Read More

Regional connectivity scheme: After months’ delay, daily flight service to Nanded takes off

Mumbai: Months after its inauguration was pushed back, the first flight from Mumbai to Nanded took off Thursday. The two cities, only an hour away from each other by air, would witness daily flight services. The TruJet’s inaugural flight to Nanded from Mumbai airport took off at 10.30 am. As per the airline’s schedule, the same aircraft will operate a flight to Hyderabad from Nanded. The return flight, slated on the same day, would connect flyers from Hyderabad to Mumbai via Nanded.
After Kandla and Porbunder, to where there are SpiceJet flights from the city, Nanded is the third airport to be connected with Mumbai under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).
The fare between Mumbai and Nanded has been pegged at Rs 2,500. “Flights would operate daily between the airports. The Mumbai-Nanded route was supposed to be inaugurated in May this year when we launched the Nanded-Hyderabad route. However, due to certain technical issues, it was delayed,” said a TruJet official.
Flight operations between Nanded and Hyderabad were also suspended in the monsoon due to issues on the runway at the Nanded airport. Airport authorities undertook corrective action after September, said officials.
“The route had been shut for 10 years. We insisted on launching the route at the earliest ahead of Guru Gobind Singh’s birthday on December 22. Flyers wishing to come to Nanded from Hyderabad used to land at the Aurangabad airport and travel by road to reach Nanded. We are happy the issue is resolved,” said Ranjit Sinh, public relations officer of the Nanded Gurudwara Board.
17/11/17 Naha Kulkarni/Indian Express

Read More

Salem, India reopens with subsidized TruJet flights

Salem will regain commercial traffic by year-end thanks to government-subsidized TruJet (TRJ, Hyderabad Int'l) services, the Times of India reported.

K. Mariappan, president of the local chapter of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) said that before the year-end, Salem airport in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu will be connected to the hub airport in Chennai, as well as some cities in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state. The exact dates of the launch or the frequencies have not been revealed yet.

The service will be operated from Vijayawada via Kadapa and Chennai to Salem. Return flights from Salem will connect Chennai, Mysore, Vijayawada and Kadapa, Mariappan explained.

All routes will be operated by a 72-seater ATR 72-200/-500/-600 turboprop under the UDAN scheme. UDAN is an Indian government's plan to subsidise flights to secondary and tertiary airports in order to boost air connectivity across the country. Under this scheme, the authorities reduced excise on value-added tax on fuel and service tax, while publicly-owned airports waived their charges. Airlines can also get a compensation to cover the gap between the income from the legally-capped fares and actual costs (viability gap funding).

According to Mariappan, fares from Chennai to Salem will be capped at INR1920 (USD29.4) and from Salem to Chennai at INR1750 (USD26.8). The concessional rates will be available for the first 36 customers on each flight, amounting to 50% of the available capacity, in accordance with the UDAN scheme rules.
13/11/17 ch-aviation

Read More

Trujet to launch 2 new sectors from Nov 16

Hyderabad: Trujet will launch two more new sectors -Nanded- Mumbai-Nanded and Cuddapah- Chennai-Cuddapah effective from November 16 thereby connecting the 3 tier cities to the metropolitans for uplifting the economic growth to a huge extent.
An official statement said here on Saturday that Trujet, Hyderabad-based Turbo Megha Airways is now connecting 12 destinations all across South and Middle India.
Turbo Megha Airways, which is the promoter of the brand TruJet, is a pioneer of RCS routes (Regional Connectivity Scheme) and encouraging connectivity of unserved sectors like Nanded, Cuddapah, Mysore and Vidyanagar, under the UDAN scheme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Turbo Megha is one of the five air operators which won bids to operate on 128 routes connecting 70 airports, of which 31 are unserved under the regional connectivity scheme - Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) - where fares are capped for making flying, a dream come true for many.
11/11/17 UNI

Read More

Salem to get flight to Chennai, Andhra cities before year-end

Salem: Before next year, people of Salem and its neighbouring districts will have flight connectivity between Salem and Chennai and some cities in Andhra Pradesh, said K Mariappan, president of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Salem chapter.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Marippan said Salem Airport will be revived before end of December. "It is going to be a New Year gift to people of Salem, Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Erode districts," he said.
"The ministry of civil aviation had already approved a hyderabad-based airline company, Turbo Megha Airways Private Limited, to operate a 72-seater ATR aircraft under the UDAN scheme to provide regional connectivity between Salem and two or more cities at a concessional fare not exceeding Rs 2500," Marippan said.
The flight, which will be operated from Vijayawada, will be landing first at Cuddapah in Andhra Pradesh and then to Chennai and from there to Salem. "On return from Salem it will land first at Chennai then to Mysore and finally to Vijayawada via Cuddapah," he added.
07/11/17

Read More