Shimla, Jan 18 (IANS) Jagson Airlines will start a regular flight between Delhi and Himachal Pradesh from next month, an airline official said Tuesday.
‘From Feb 15, we will daily operate a Delhi-Kullu-Shimla-Delhi flight,’ Jagson CEO Koustav Dhar told IANS over phone from Delhi.
He said the company would ply an 80-seater plane in the hill state.
To tap the market, the company has decided to charge airfare 30 percent lower than the existing rate.
Currently, Kingfisher is the only airline operating a regular flight between Delhi and Kullu, whereas Indian Airlines is operating flights four days in a week. But there is no flight in the state that links the two towns – Kullu, Shimla.
Kullu Travel Agents Association official Subhash Sharma said the operation of the bigger aircraft by Jagson would bring down the fares considerably.
‘Now, the fare is extraordinarily high due to operation of smaller aircrafts. Moreover, the operation of more regular flights will bring more tourists,’ he added.
Tourism is an important contributor to Himachal Pradesh’s economic development, besides horticulture and hydro-power generation.
As many as 13 million tourists visited the hills of Himachal Pradesh last year as compared to 11 million in 2009, registering an increase of over 16 percent in a year.
According to a survey conducted by the state tourism department, locations in Kullu, Kangra and Shimla districts remained the favourite as about 50 percent of the tourists headed to these places. The famous hill stations like Shimla, Manali, Dharamsala, Dalhousie and Kasauli were preferred among both Indian and foreigners.
