The chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami will soon launch the air connectivity scheme to strengthen air connectivity in the State, the chief secretary Radha Raturi said on Wednesday. In a meeting held at the Secretariat with the officials of Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) and Alliance Air, she said that as a pilot project, the government will initially start air connectivity on Varanasi- Pantnagar-Varanasi and Pantnagar- Pithoragarh- Pantnagar routes.
It will be done as per the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) model. Besides this, the government will also start air connectivity on Amritsar- Dehradun- Amritsar, Dehradun- Pantnagar- Dehradun and Dehradun-Ayodhya- Dehradun routes. This initiative will be based on the Cost Minus Revenue Model. She said that the services of 70-seater plane IE 72 will be used on these routes. This air service will start in the first week of March, she added. Raturi said that considering Uttarakhand is a tourism State, it is necessary to have strong air connectivity across the State besides making continuous improvements in air services. Besides giving a boost to tourism activities in remote areas of the State, strong air connectivity will also benefit locals and the administration in emergency situations like health issues and disaster management. She said that the government will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with Alliance Air in this regard.
