Air India will introduce daily direct flights from Delhi to Aurangabad effective November 1, 2010 with an introductory fare of Rs 4000. This was informed by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel at the recently concluded Aurangabad Tourism Conclave. The flight details have already been featured on the airline’s website.
During the conclave Patel also fulfilled a 11 year-old demand of hoteliers in Aurangabad by announcing the revival of Udaipur – Aurangabad flight, which was operated for almost 30 years and abruptly withdrawn on November 1, 1999. In the 80’s and 90’s Udaipur – Aurangabad flight bought a major chunk of foreign tourists from Rajasthan, which even till date as a single state, commands 40 per cent of India’s total inbound tourist traffic i.e. foreign tourist traffic.
The hoteliers in Aurangabad have requested Patel to provide at least 9-12 months advance time to start the Udaipur – Aurangabad flight as tour operators need a minimum nine months before announcing tours on this sector.
Therefore, the flight will be available from next tourist season and will create a great impact on the tourism business of Aurangabad as certain country markets such as Spain, Italy, France will start patronising Aurangabad in terms of large Group Arrivals from July onwards as July is summer holiday season for most Mediterranean countries. The other country markets such as USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia, UK, Germany, Sweden, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Korea, Vietnam etc. will patronise hotels from October to March as was seen in the 80’s and 90’s.
Patel also accepted another demand of hoteliers in Aurangabad to encourage charters from European and Far East countries into Aurangabad and gave the assurance that if tour operators are willing to bring in charters to Aurangabad then his Ministry will go an extra mile to encourage them. Rajendra Darda, Industries Minister, Maharashtra even requested Patel to request Sri Lankan Airlines to provide a stop over at Aurangabad for their Colombo - Bodhgaya flight as the air route flies over Aurangabad.