Budget carrier SpiceJet on Monday announced the commencement of its flight services to the Darbhanga airport, which is in the final stages of completion, from New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, starting November 8.
The announcement comes weeks after Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri reviewed the ongoing construction work of the Darbhanga airport in poll-bound Bihar and the Deoghar airport in Jharkhand.
During his visit, Puri said the operations from the Darbhanga airport would commence before the Chhath Puja festival, which is one of the major festivals of the state.
SpiceJet will operate daily direct flights on the Delhi-Darbhanga, Bengaluru-Darbhanga and Mumbai-Darbhanga sectors starting November 8, the airline said in a release.
Darbhanga, which was bagged by SpiceJet under the second phase of the government’s regional connectivity scheme, will be the airline’s 13th UDAN (Uday Desh ka Aam Naagrik) destination  and  the  55th  on the airline’s domestic network, it said.
SpiceJet will be the first and only airline to operate flight services on these sectors, which will be serviced by Boeing 737-800 planes, Â said the release.
“I am delighted to announce the launch of our much-awaited flight services to and from Darbhanga, putting this key city on the country’s aviation map and making the upcoming festival season all the more special,” SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director, Ajay Singh said.
He added that the airline’s new daily flights from Darbhanga from November 8 will connect the city with key metros of Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, and further provide easy connections throughout our domestic and international network.
These new routes could not have come at a more opportune time for Bihar when thousands travel back home for Diwali and Chhath Puja, Singh said.
SpiceJet’s UDAN network includes Delhi-Kishangarh-Delhi, Mumbai-Porbandar, Mumbai-Kandla-Mumbai, Hyderabad-Puducherry-Hyderabad, Jaipur-Jaisalmer-Jaipur, Delhi-Adampur-Delhi, Ahmedabad-Jaisalmer-Ahmedabad, Surat-Jaisalmer-Surat and Delhi-Kanpur-Delhi, among others, as per the airline.
