Summary
- Alliance Air will launch a new route between Amritsar and Kullu in North India, reducing travel time from several hours by road to just 55 minutes by flight.
- The airline will use its ATR 42 aircraft for this route, which was specifically acquired to serve challenging and restricted airports.
- Alliance Air is the only state-owned carrier in India and focuses on regional connectivity, with many of its routes falling under the government’s regional flying scheme UDAN.
India’s regional carrier Alliance Air is set to start a new route in North India – Amritsar in the state of Punjab to Kullu in the state of Himachal Pradesh. With a fleet of smaller propeller aircraft, Alliance Air focuses on regional routes in India, particularly to underserved destinations under the Indian government’s regional flying scheme UDAN.
Amritsar to Kullu
Alliance Air will start an exclusive route between Amritsar and Kullu in North India from October 1st. Anyone traveling between the two destinations currently has to take the road, with the journey lasting around 10 hours. Alliance Air’s new service will reduce the traveling time to just 55 minutes.
Photo: Gcmap.com
Kullu-Manali is a popular tourist destination in the hilly state of Himachal Pradesh, which shares its border with Punjab. Apart from regular tourists, Alliance Air will also hope to attract those looking to travel to Manikarak Sahib, a Sikh pilgrimage center in Himachal. Tribune India quotes one such person as saying,
“The Kullu-Manali Airport is located at Bhuntar. The new flight would accommodate devotees, who visit Manikaran Sahib every year. In the absence of air connectivity with Amritsar, devotees used to take flight from Chandigarh.”
ATR 42 will be deployed on the route
Alliance Air will use the smaller of its two ATR aircraft types – the ATR 42 – on this route. The airline acquired two ATR42s last year, and Kullu was the first destination to be served by it. Alliance Air specifically got the ATR 42 to fly to challenging airfields, such as Shimla and Kullu in the Himalayan region of North India. Such airports have certain restrictions, making them inaccessible to bigger planes.
Located at high altitudes and exposed to extreme temperatures, these airports also have short runways. With the smaller ATR-42s, Alliance Air gets a good mix of size and economics to make these routes viable.
Alliance Air has an even smaller aircraft – the Dornier Do228, which primarily operates in challenging airfields in Northeast India. Per ch-aviation, the carrier has a fleet of 21 aircraft, including one Dornier Do228, two ATR 42s, and 17 ATR 72s.
Only state-owned carrier in India
Once a subsidiary of Air India, Alliance Air was not part of the deal when Air India was handed over to the Tata Group. Currently, it is the only state-owned airline in India. It avoids the major trunk routes in India and focuses on regional connectivity across the country. Many of its routes come under UDAN – a regional connectivity scheme by the Indian government.
Photo: BoeingMan777 / Shuttertsock
Earlier this year, the Indian government announced that it will infuse more than $35 million into the carrier to alleviate some of its financial problems. The airline had previously run into trouble when several of its pilots went on a mass leave to protest salary-related issues.
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With inputs from The Tribune