DRMumbai: Jet Airways will introduce a ‘red eye hour’ flight to Pune, besides adding two more connecting Mumbai and Bengaluru with Patna in the summer schedule beginning March 25. Jet also proposes to introduce a direct service between Indore and Patna once a week (on Sundays) from July 1. IndiGo, too, proposes to introduce three more flights – a flight each to Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad, while GoAir has proposed a flight between Hyderabad and Patna from April 30, said a spokesperson of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
“The number of flights here will go up from 38 at present to 43 on week days and 45 on Sunday by July,” said Santosh Kumar, Assistant General Manager, air traffic management of the Airports Authority of India, Patna. Jet is the first of the five airlines operating from Patna to introduce three additional direct flights in the summer schedule this year.
Of the three new flights, Patna will get direct connectivity with Pune six days a week and Bengaluru on a daily basis. The flight to Mumbai will operate on Saturday and Sunday. The Pune flight (9W 3540) will depart at 2.45 am and arrive there at 5.05 am, giving guests and students a head start into their day, said a communique from Jet Airways. At present, there is no direct flight between Patna and Pune. GoAir had a hopping flight to Pune via New Delhi from Patna over a year back but withdrew it later, said an air travel operator. The flight to Bengaluru (9W 142) will depart from Patna at 1.55 pm and arrive there at 4.30 pm.
The return flight (9W-141) will depart from Bengaluru at 10.50 am and arrive here at 1.25 pm. Similarly, the flight to Mumbai (9W 180) will leave Patna at 9 pm on Saturday and noon on Sunday, and reach the financial capital after two-and-a-half hours. The new flights will complement Jet Airways’ ongoing connectivity between Patna and Delhi. At present, Jet operates three direct flights to the national capital from Patna.
The first flight (9W 728) leaves here at 1.15 pm, the second (9W 731) at 4.45 pm and the third flight (9W 312) at 6.15 pm to reach Delhi in 1.50 hours. With the introduction of new flights in a staggered manner, there will be 18 daily Delhi-Patna flights and 19 for return; six Bangalore- Patna flying options and three for return; six flights either way between Kolkata and Patna; four each between Hyderabad and Patna; and three each between Lucknow and Patna. Flyers will have two flights from Chennai to Patna and one (only Tuesday) for return. Those coming from Ranchi to Patna will have one flying option and four for return.
There will be only one flight on Sunday between Indore and Patna. Barring Saturday, there will be an option daily for fliers between Pune and Patna, while Patna to Varanasi will have a daily flight, but none for return. After the increase in flights, IndiGo will have 18 departures, GoAir 10, SpiceJet five and Air India four daily. Jet will operate six flights from Patna on weekdays and eight on Sundays. Meanwhile, beginning March 25, SpiceJet flights between Delhi and Patna will operate from terminal 2, instead of terminal 1, at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport.
