Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], December 24 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday conveyed his best wishes while expressing happiness over the commencement of the services of Akasa Air from the capital, an official statement said on Saturday.
Akasa Air is scheduled to start its flight operations from Lucknow on two different routes on Sunday.
Officials of the airlines on Saturday greeted CM Yogi by giving him the first Boarding Pass (symbolic).
Yogi said that respected former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee represented Lucknow five times in the Lok Sabha. “A new flight service is being started from Lucknow to Mumbai and Bangalore. It will be a huge convenience for the people of Lucknow”, he remarked.
The Chief Minister said that Uttar Pradesh had benefited immensely from the ‘Udaan’ scheme launched by respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pointing out that the PM’s dreams of ‘air flight of a common man wearing slippers’ and better air services in Uttar Pradesh are coming true.
Collecting information from the officials of Air Asia regarding the model, route, fuel, fare etc. of the aircraft, the Chief Minister said that Akasa Air is starting its air service for the Bengaluru-Lucknow-Mumbai route. “It should also be linked to Varanasi. This route is the most frequented. This will prove to be very useful for both the people of Uttar Pradesh and Akasa Air,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that before 2017, the state had airports mainly in Lucknow and Varanasi. Gorakhpur and Agra had partially functional airports. Flights were available only from four airports to 25 destinations.
Now, there are nine airports operational in the state and work for setting up ten more airports is on. Flight connectivity has also increased to 75 destinations, he said. The Chief Minister said that before the year 2017 there was only one flight from Gorakhpur to Delhi. Today there are 14 flights and “When I ask, I get to know that all come full and go full, this has given a new pace to the development of Gorakhpur”, he remarked.
The Chief Minister said that the state government is getting 10 new airports constructed. Air service is going to start in areas like Aligarh, Azamgarh, Moradabad, Saharanpur, Chitrakoot, Shravasti and Sonbhadra. Until recently this was unimaginable. An airport is being built in Chitrakoot at a very high altitude, he pointed out. “Uttar Pradesh will become a state with 5 international airports very soon. Presently Varanasi, Kushinagar and Lucknow International Airports are functional, while construction of airports in Jewar and Ayodhya is in progress. There are immense possibilities in this field. Akasa Air will get its benefit,” said CM Yogi.
The Chief Minister suggested Air Akasa officials to start flights from Lucknow, Varanasi or Kushinagar to Kathmandu. “It is the responsibility of the government to provide better connectivity-good air service to 25 crore residents of the state. Flight services are not just a general connectivity facility, but are also useful in accelerating tourism promotion,” he said. Akasa Air Chief Executive Officer Vinay Dubey, Co-Founder Neelu Khatri, Co-Founder Praveen Iyer, Vice President Harjinder Singh and many other top officials were also present. (ANI)
