Alliance Air starts Jaipur-Agra flight service, Agra tourism industry hails the launch

The flights, which will be running thrice a week, are being hailed as a big breakthrough by the tourism industry of Agra which had been demanding for more flights to Agra for decades.

Listen to Story

Advertisement
Jaipur-Agra flight (Photo by: Kamir)
Jaipur-Agra flight (Photo by: Kamir)

In Short

  • The flights will be running thrice a week.
  • Agra tourism industry has hailed the move.
  • It has been demanding for more flights to Agra for decades.

In a major turnaround of fortunes for the Agra tourism industry, Air India's subsidiary Alliance Air started operating Jaipur-Agra flights from Friday. The flights, which will be running thrice a week, are being hailed as a big breakthrough by the tourism industry of Agra which had been demanding for more flights to Agra for decades.

Upon arrival at Agra, the flight was welcomed by Agra MP Ram Shankar Katheriya along with UP Civil Aviation Minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi. The arriving passengers were greeted by representatives of tourism organizations.

advertisement

Later, talking to India Today, MP Katheriya said that this flight was one of the first regional connectivity flights to be started for Agra and another flight connecting Agra to Delhi will be started by January 18th. He said that the land acquisition process for the new civil air terminal of Agra is almost complete and the UP CM Yogi Adityanath will be arriving in Agra in the last week of December to lay the keystone of this project, which will be hopefully completed within 2-3 years.

Welcoming the passengers upon their arrival in Agra, Agra Tourist Welfare Chamber President Prahalad Agarwal said that the Central government's UDAN project has at last brought relief to Agra after a long drought. He said that this flight will bring a major boost to the tourism industry of Agra as it will increase night stay of tourists in the city. He said that the flight will not only bring tourists to Agra, but it will also connect Agra to major metros like Mumbai and Kolkata through Jaipur.

Talking to India Today, Ashok Jain Oswal, chairman Ashok Oswal Group said that the Jaipur Agra flight, combined with the proposed Delhi - Agra flight will increase this city's possibilities in joining the country's aviation map again, after a long hiatus. He said that being a city with such enormous tourism potential, it is quite disappointing that there are no flights that connect this city to the rest of the country, but this picture will likely change soon.

Agra Tourist Welfare Chamber Secretary Vishal Sharma said that there are still a number of aviation possibilities for Agra and these possibilities were discussed by chamber officials in an exclusive meeting with Air India CEO Rajiv Bansal who had arrived in Agra with the inaugural flight. Sharma said that the Air India CEO was made aware of a number of commercially viable routes that could be started keeping Agra in the loop, which included a Delhi-Agra-Mumbai flight, which had been running quite successfully till it was pulled out of Agra in November 2014 citing aircraft shortage.

Similarly, he said, an extension of the Jaipur-Agra-Jaipur flight to include Udaipur was also suggested as it was a major tourist sector. A memorandum, enumerating these suggestions was also given to the Air India CEO by the chamber.