India’s civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has inaugurated the first direct flight on Jamnagar – Bengaluru – Hyderabad route under the regional connectivity scheme-UDAN.
Star Air was awarded the routes during the UDAN 3 bidding process. The airline will be operating thrice-weekly flights on the sector and will deploy its 50-seater Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft.
The route marks the commencement of the 32nd UDAN route by the airline.
The availability of direct flights between Jamnagar and Bengaluru will drastically cut down the travel time to 135 minutes from earlier seven hours taken for air travel using connecting flights via Mumbai. Likewise, travel time between Hyderabad from Jamnagar has also been reduced to 130 minutes from one day.
Commenting on the new launch, Scindia said:
“I am happy to announce the kick-starting of regional connectivity from Jamnagar under UDAN. From today, Star Air will operate first-time direct flights between Jamnagar and Bengaluru including flights between Jamnagar and Hyderabad under UDAN.
Jamnagar is the perfect blend of trade, cultural, and religious hubs. Moreover, I am delighted to announce that we are planning to commence ten more additional flights from Gujarat under UDAN. The UDAN scheme envisioned by our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been a game-changer for the civil aviation sector of the country.”
So far, 369 routes and 60 airports (including five heliports and two water aerodromes) have been operationalised under the UDAN scheme.
Image source: Ministry of Civil Aviation (Twitter)
