Flights to resume from Puducherry to Bengaluru and Hyderabad on March 27

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.