Now, fly from Ahmedabad to Bhavnagar in less than 2 hours

From Monday, Deccan Charters will begin its Ahmedabad-Bhavnagar air service which will touch Surat along the way. Travelling to Bhavnagar by air may prove slightly expensive for Amdavadis but, for a Surti, going to the Saurashtra city by the same flight may prove economical. 

Sources said that a ticket on the Bhavnagar–Ahmedabad flight is likely to cost around Rs6,000 while the Surat-Bhavnagar ticket will come for around Rs4,500.

Deccan Charters Limited (DCL), formerly known as Deccan Aviation Limited, is launching its intra-state flights in Gujarat from Monday. The airline will operate non-scheduled chartered flight services within Gujarat under the brand name, Deccan Shuttles.

There will be six flights daily and these will be serviced by 15-seater aircraft between the three cities.

It will take 1 hour 45 minutes to fly from A’bad to Bhavnagar via Surat. The first flight on Monday will take off from Ahmedabad at around 7:30 am and go straight to Surat.

The aircraft will make four Surat-Bhavnagar flights by evening that day. It will finally take off from Surat at around 6 pm for its return flight to Ahmedabad.

Flights on the Ahmedabad-Kandla route will be started from August 27 and the Ahmedabad-Jamnagar route will be added subsequently, said a statement issued by the company. In the coming days, this service will connect key economic hubs of Gujarat, viz, Ahmedabad, Surat, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Kandla.

“Later two more aircraft are likely to be added. By the end of the month, the A’bad–Kandla–A’bad and A’bad–Jamnagar–A’bad services will be started,” a source said.

Deccan wants to identify tourist, industrial and other important clusters that are currently not serviced by airlines to provide customised charter flights on these routes.

When asked about the high ticket prices estimated for the service, a government official said that currently travelling in luxury to any city of Gujarat from Ahmedabad does not cost more than Rs1,000.

On May 1 last year, Deccan Charters, under the brand name of Deccan 360, had planned intra-state services for Gujarat connecting 11 cities of the state. But for various reasons, it got delayed. Later, Deccan Charters wanted to start the service under the brand name of Simply Fly but DGCA did not approve it.

According to industry experts, financially the business is not very viable. “Flying to Bhavnagar from Ahmedabad will be expensive. It will take almost 2 hours. By road, it takes around 3 hours and a road trip costs less than Rs500,” said an expert.

Source:  http://www.dnaindia.com