Hindon Airport will begin operations on Friday, sealing Delhi's wait for a second airport. The first flight from Hindon is by Heritage Aviation company's 9-seater aircraft, which will take off for Pithoragarh district in Uttarakhand.
The CEO of Heritage Aviation Private Limited, Rohit Mathur, said after the first flight to Pithoragarh, the company plans to launch flights for Dehradun, Hubli, Shimla and other popular tourist destinations.
"A 9-seater aircraft of our company will take the first flight for Pithoragarh from the Hindon airport on October 11, the price has for one seat in the aircraft has been kept at ₹2.5 thousand by us. After this we are planning to launch flights for Dehradun, Hubli, Shimla, Faizabad, Gulbarga, Nasik and Coonoor among other popular destinations," ANI quoted Mathur as saying.
District Collector Ajay Shankar Pandey told ANI that all arrangements have been made for security of Hindon Airport. He further added that 55 policemen who have received special training have been deployed at the airport to ensure that there is no inconvenience to passengers on the first flight from the airport.
Hindon Airport, located close to Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad, will help reduce load at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport. Located 40 kilometres from the IGI airport, it belongs to the Indian Air Force (IAF), and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) has built a civil enclave inside it.
The IAF permitted use of the airbase for civilian flights under the UDAN Scheme (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), and seeks to connect unserved and underserved airports, making flying more affordable.