IndiGo Airlines on Thursday flagged off a direct flight connecting the spiritual city of Varanasi with the state capital Lucknow, reducing travel time between cities to just 70 mins.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister of State for civil aviation General VK Singh (Retd), and other senior officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation joined the inaugural event via video conferencing.
Speaking on the occasion, UP CM said that the state has huge potential for the aviation industry and in the last six years the state has witnessed enormous growth in terms of infrastructure development.
“We have nine functioning airports in the state and 12 others are under the process that includes two international airport-Ayodhya and Noida,” he said. He added that airlines should focus on behaviour, safety and punctuality as it will make a positive impact on passengers.
It promises a significant reduction in the amount of time required to travel between these two important cities, he said. The flight will take roughly 70 minutes to travel from Lucknow to Varanasi overall. On the other hand, it will take 55 minutes to travel back from Varanasi to Lucknow.
The flight will run three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, according to the timetable posted on IndiGos website. The flight will take off at 2:20 pm from the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow and land at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi at 3:30 pm. Varanasi to Lucknows return trip will take place between 4:05 and 5 pm.
General VK Singh (Retd) said that at present there are 15 flights from Varanasi and 41 flights from Lucknow for various destinations. IndiGo has started flights in many locations and today two important places have got connected. He also asked IndiGo to focus on Western UP and connect it to other destinations in Eastern and Central UP.
