Indigo Airline’s first Delhi-Dharamshala flight flagged off

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

The first Indigo Airline flight from Delhi to Dharamsgala was flagged off on Sunday by Anurag Thakur, Minister for Information and Broadcasting; Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister for Civil Aviation; and Minister of State for Civil Aviation General V.K.Singh.

Speaking on the occasion IB Minister Anurag Thakur expressed his gratitude towards the Ministry of Civil Aviation for facilitating Indigo connectivity to Himachal Pradesh.

Dharamshala airport connects five districts with ease of connectivity and directly benefits half of the population of the state, he said adding that this single Indigo flight goes a long way in connecting half of the state and a few places in Punjab to the rest of the country.

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the rapid expansion of airport infrastructure in the country, Thakur said that the number of airports has gone from 74 to over 140 in a short span of time.

Thakur made a case for a larger airport and said that currently passengers coming to Himachal from all over India have to go to Delhi and then board connecting flights to the State.

Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia acknowledged the request of expansion of Dharamshala airport. He said that his Ministry is already working on a 2-phase plan for the same. The first phase involves lengthening of the current runway to 1900 mts to enable turboprop aircrafts landing with load penalty to ply without such penalties. The 2nd phase would involve further lengthening of the runway to 3110 mts to realize the vision of landing Boeing 737 and Airbus a320 at the airport.

Speaking about the other achievements in the State for his Ministry, Scindia said that runway restoration at the Shimla airport has been completed and site clearance has been provided for a Greenfield airport at Mandi.

“Civil aviation sector has seen a complete democratization, and those who could only watch aircrafts fly are today flying in it”, remarked the Minister.

He further stated that the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in the form UDAN Scheme has seen 1 crore 15 lakh such people added to number India’s air passengers.

Kishan Kapoor, Member of Parliament from Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, said that the aircraft is a major contribution to air connectivity for the people of the State. The State had seen a tremendous decline in tourist activity during COVID19 pandemic and is now witnessing a revival.

Kapoor requested the Ministry of Civil Aviation to consider further expanding the number of aircrafts flying to Dharamshala.

Indigo airline will operate daily flights to Dharamshala from Delhi. This new flight sector takes the number of daily flights of Indigo to 1795 and makes it the seventh largest airline in the world in terms of departures.

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