SpiceJet Puts Puducherry Back on India’s Aviation Map

GURGAON:
SpiceJet, the country’s favourite low-cost carrier, has brought Puducherry back on India’s aviation map. The airline launched services on the Hyderabad-Puducherry sector today providing convenient connections from different parts of the country to the Union Territory.
The Hyderabad-Puducherry flight becomes the third daily flight to be launched by SpiceJet under the UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme. The traditional flag-off and lamp-lighting ceremonies were held at the Puducherry Airport.
Puducherry is one of the four un-served markets the airline will be operating to under the UDAN scheme. With this new flight, Puducherry will be connected with Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Tirupati, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Vijaywada and Varanasi with convenient onward connections on the SpiceJet network.
The flag-off ceremony was graced by Chief Minister, Government of Puducherry – V. Narayanasamy, V. Vaithilingam, Speaker, Legislative Assembly, V.P. Sivakolundhu, Deputy Speaker, Legislative Assembly, Malladi Krishna Rao, Minister for Health & Tourism, Government of Puducherry, N Gokulakrishnan Rajya Sabha MP, Manoj Parida, Chief Secretary to Government of Puducherry, V V G Raju Regional Director South AAI, along with elected legislators, senior AAI & SpiceJet officials. The launch was initiated with the customary lamp lighting ceremony followed by ribbon-cutting, marking the formal announcement of the launch of the new flight service.
Flight SG 1005 was given a ceremonial flag off at 11:40 am which departed from Puducherry on its maiden flight to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad. The first few passengers were welcomed and mementoes were gifted to them. In line with the aviation tradition to mark key milestones, the flight was greeted with a grand water cannon salute upon its arrival at the Puducherry Airport.
On the occasion of the flagging off ceremony, Shilpa Bhatia, Senior VP, Commercial SpiceJet said, “SpiceJet is proud to induct Puducherry on to its network. Seen as an education, healthcare and tourism hotspot of the country, Puducherry is also home to several big IT software and hardware giants and has seen remarkable growth in recent years. SpiceJet is excited to contribute to this growth story and our flights will help bring in more leisure and business traffic to the UT.”
SpiceJet has been awarded six proposals and 11 routes under the first phase of the Government of India’s UDAN Regional Connectivity Scheme. Out of the six finalised proposals four will cater to unserved markets of Adampur, Kandla, Puducherry and Jaisalmer whereas two will be for underserved markets of Porbandar and Kanpur. Flight operations have already commenced on Mumbai-Porbandar-Mumbai and Mumbai-Kandla-Mumbai routes from 10th July.