Pune:
Good news for mountaineering and trekking enthusiasts: the low-cost carrier, Go Air, will begin daily flights to Leh via New Delhi from October 2.
"In the last two years, tourist flow to Leh has picked up, and a majority of the crowd is young students and professionals. Hence, we decided to link Pune to Leh, as there is a significant percentage of such people inclined to mountaineering and trekking activities," said Praveen Nair, general manager (sales) of Go Airlines (India) Pvt Ltd.
Go Air first began its Pune operations in 2006, but withdrew in 2007 due to operational difficulties. Tuesday's move marks the firm's entry into Pune after a gap of three years.
Those willing to travel to Leh will have to board the last Pune-Delhi flight at 10.55 pm from Lohegaon airport. The flight will reach Delhi around 1 am the next day. The same passengers will board the connecting Delhi-Leh flight at 6.55 am. Go Air also announced the commencement of two daily flights to Delhi and a daily flight each to Lucknow and Patna, via Delhi.
"There is a very large population of students and Indian Administrative Services (IAS) professionals either studying or posted in Pune or in the neighbouring cities," said Nair.
However, Go Air, which had earlier announced regular flights to Kochi, said there is no such plan as of now. "We have seen that there is not enough demand for Kerala from Pune," said Nair. The company has plans to begin daily Pune-Guwahati and Pune-Bagdogra operations, starting November 1. "The morning flight from Pune to Delhi will continue to Guwahati or Bagdogra on alternate days," he said.