PUDUCHERRY: Commercial flight operations from Puducherry Airport are set to resume with Spice Jet launching operations on the Hyderabad-Puducherry-Hyderabad and Bengaluru-Puducherry-Bengaluru routes from March 27. The flight operator has communicated its decision to the government, Director of Tourism P Priyartarshny said. The booking of tickets for travel on these routes has opened. Flights will be operated daily on the routes by a single aircraft.
On both the routes, the flight operator is operating on its own and not under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) as the bidding for RCS routes is yet to commence, she said. However, the flight operator has sought support from the government, which will continue to provide VAT free aviation fuel, since Puducherry is on RCS route, she said. The government has requested them to test the viability, because in the earlier operations the flights were booked adequately and there was no need for Viability Gap Fund (VGF) to be provided.
SpiceJet commenced operations on the Hyderabad-Puducherry-Hyderabad route in 2017, under UDAN, the RCS scheme and in the subsequent year, it launched daily flights on the Bengaluru-Puducherry-Bengaluru route. Following the Covid pandemic hitting the country, both services were stopped.
The Puducherry government has also approached IndiGo Airlines for plying on the Puducherry to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Tirupati, Rajahmundry, Kannur and Ernakulam routes. The government would offer VGF and VAT free aviation fuel.