UP to promote regional air connectivity, Agra-Jaipur flights from Dec 15

Lucknow, Nov 8 : Direct flights between Agra and Jaipur are proposed to start on December 15 this year, an Uttar Pradesh government official said on Wednesday.

The information was given to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during a review meeting of the new Civil Aviation promotion Policy-2017, which was rolled out in September this year.

Reviewing the progress made so far under the new policy, Adityanath said that under this policy, priority has been accorded to air-linking go the state capitalwith other state capitals and divisional headquarters. 

On regional connectivity, the Chief Minister also requested the Central government to ensure time-bound action on expanding airports in the state's major cities. The Narendra Modi government has undertaken the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) to connect small towns and cities by air. 

Adityanath also directed officials to expedite work on the Jewar International Airport Project and named the Yamuna Expressway Authority as its nodal agency.

He stressed on the need of quickly initiating the land acquisition work for the project and said that selection process for picking up a consultant for preparing a DPR should be expeditiously done. 

The Chief Minister also said that his government was giving priority to both road and air connectivity, noting that this will lead to development of various regions, develop the tourism sector and also create new job opportunities. 

During the meeting, the Chief Minister was informed that under the RCS for the state, five air routes have been approved under which bids have been successfully received for Agra, Kanpur, and Allahabad.

To minimize travel time, at its own level, the state government has succeeded in linking Lucknow to Dehradun, Bhopal, Patna and Jaipur. In the same way, direct flights between Varanasi-Jaipur have started and air service between Agra-Jaipur is proposed to start on December 15, officials said.

Officials also told the Chief Minister that seeing the presence of people from eastern Uttar Pradesh in Arab countries, the flight between Varanasi and Sharjah, initially operating on weekly basis has now been changed to a daily flight.

Air service has also been started between Varanasi and Colombo, a flight has been added on the Varanasi-Delhi sector and that the state government was making efforts to strengthen and expand 10 existing air strips.

Of these eight are under the control of the state government and the remaining two - Jhansi and Saharanpur are under the control of the Defence Ministry. In most places like Agra, Kanpur Chakeri, Bareilly, Lalitpur, Jhansi, Meerut, Faizabad, Moradabad, Aligarh and Chitrakoot, most part of the land required has been provided already.