Flights from Bathinda takes wings after 3 years hiatus; AAP, Akali Dal rush to take credit

The bonhomie between the ministers at the airport notwithstanding, there was a tug-of-war for taking credit between both the parties even before the flight had landed, with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann having taken to the social media on Monday morning to announce that there was good news for the people of the Malwa region with the starting of a direct flight service from the afternoon.

“The area of Malwa will be directly connected with Delhi which will be beneficial for masses. This will open more ways for their happiness and progress. Steps taken by the Punjab government to make it ‘Rangla Punjab ‘ are continuously succeeding,” Mann posted on Facebook.

He added that Air Alliance had decided to keep the inaugural fare as Rs 1,999 and the state government was making efforts to start similar flights from other airports of Punjab as well.

Hours after Mann’s post, MP and former union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal posted a video on her Facebook account of Bathinda airport being inaugurated during Shiromani Akali Dal’s tenure on December 12,2016. She wrote,”Under the SAD-BJP government, the connectivity and infrastructure of the city was improved with four lane and six lane roads, as well as hospitals, universities, colleges and a airport being built in Bathinda to give it a facelift. Bathinda airport was built under the SAD government and credit for this should go to the far sightededness of former CM Parkash Singh Badal, as well as former deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal.”

AAP’s Lambi MLA Khuddian had defeated Akali stalwart Parkash Badal by more than 11000 votes in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections.
Addressing passengers later, Khuddian said,”The flights will be a boon for people from the Malwa region as well as those from adjacent areas of Haryana and Rajasthan.”

Harsimrat Badal said,”It is good that flights have resumed finally from Bathinda. However, the frequency of such flights should be five days a week. I will raise the issue with the Union government.”

First flight in nearly three years

As per details, Monday’s flight was the first in almost three years after services had been discontinued in the middle of the Covid pandemic.

Flights from Bathinda to Jammu and Delhi had started in December 2016. Subsequently, flights to Jammu were discontinued on October 27, 2019, while those to Delhi were stopped from November 28, 2020, onward.

On Monday, the Air Alliance flight that landed in Bathinda ferried 10 passengers. As per details, it took off from Delhi at 11.40 am and reached Bathinda civil airport at 1pm.

The return flight, which departed at 1.25 pm for Delhi had a total of 14 passengers, all of whom were also handed over flower bouquets by both Khuddian and Harsimrat Badal at the airport.

The first passenger to get his boarding pass for Delhi, Parveen Canadia, was also invited to cut a cake by Bathinda airport director, Devinder Prasad, to mark the occassion.

As per schedule,flights to and fro Bathinda and Delhi will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The flight from Delhi will take off at 11.40 am and land in Bathinda at around 1.00 pm. The same flight will leave Bathinda for Delhi at 1.25 pm and land at Delhi at around 2.30 pm.

Deputy commissioner Bathinda,Showkat Ahmad Parray,said,” Air Alliance will operate the flight thrice a week to T-3 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) of Indira Gandhi International Airport. They have two planes, 42 and 72 seater. The nu,ber of bookings made will determine what aircraft is used.”

He added that another company, FlyBig, was interested in starting flight operations from Bathinda to Hindon Airport in Ghaziabad. FlyBig, Parray said, were likely to operate a 14-seater plane and are likely to commence their operations very soon. “They have been running test flights since last week,” the Deputy Commissioner said.