All-women crew operates maiden Delhi-Bareilly flight on International Women's Day

On International Women's Day, an Alliance Air all-women crew operated the inaugural Delhi-Bareilly flight. The flight landed at the recently constructed Bareilly Airport, Uttar Pradesh and was given a water-cannon salute.

The Trishul Military Airbase in Bareilly was upgraded for commercial flight operations under the government's RCS-UDAN scheme. Last year, the government had awarded Alliance Air the Delhi-Bareilly route under the UDAN-4 bidding process. The airline is flying its ATR 72 600 aircraft on this route. The aircraft has a seating capacity of 70. The maiden flight was operated by an all women-crew on the occasion of International Women's Day.

"We have women pilots, cabin crew, ATC controllers, engineers & security for the inaugural flight," stated Harpreet A De Singh, CEO, Alliance Air

Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri flagged off the inaugural Delhi-Bareilly flight from Delhi Airport. Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar was also present for the flagging off ceremony.

According to Aviation Minister, the Alliance Air flight will operate on four days - Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The ticket for this flight has been priced at Rs 1954.

Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola, Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal joined the event virtually. Civil Aviation Joint Secretary Usha Padhee was also present at the flagging off of the inaugural Delhi-Bareilly flight. Other aviation Ministry and AAI personnel joined the event virtually.

Bareilly Airport is the 56th Airport that has been developed under the UDAN scheme. The Bareilly Airport is now the eighth airport operating in Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Hindon, Agra and Prayagraj.  

"Now people can fly at ease by opting for a flight of 60 mins from Delhi to Bareilly while earlier they were forced to opt for a road travel of more than 6 hours or a train journey of more than 4 hours," read a government release.

Trishul Military Airbase, Bareilly initially belonged to the Indian Air Force and the land was later handed over to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for the development of the interim civil aviation operations. "The Government of India sanctioned Rs. 88 crores under the UDAN scheme for the development of the interim civil aviation operations. The upgradation was undertaken by the AAI with a cost of Rs. 65 crores," added the release.

Also Read: IndiGo to begin Bareilly to Mumbai, Bengaluru flights from April 29