Gujarat govt flags off its first intra-state flight run by Mehair

Ahead of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2015, Gujarat government's department of civil aviation and operator Maritime Energy Heli Air Services Pvt. Ltd. (Mehair) on Friday flagged off the first inaugural intra-state flight from Ahmedabad airport to Porbandar.

Priced at an introductory fare of Rs 4999, the flights will run 3-4 times in a day during weekdays between Ahmedabad, Porbandar, Bhuj and Jamnagar. The operator Mehair will initially run a single nine-seater Cessna 208-B Grand Caravan aircraft, even as it plans to add more aircrafts to its fleet in a phased manner.

"Gujarat is now the only other state after Madhya Pradesh to have its own intra-state regional air connectivity. It was a long dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to have intra-state flight services in Gujarat. Through the services, we will connect the two big airports in the state with other smaller airports. Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has also announced opening up of more new airports which further boost travel and tourism in Gujarat," said Saurabh Patel, minister of civil aviation, Gujarat gvernment.

While the cities of Ahmedabad, Bhuj, Porbandar and Jamnagar will be connected in the first phase, the second phase will see flights being introduced between Ahmedabad, Surat, Bhavnagar, Dwarka, Keshod, Rajkot and Mandvi, among other places.

"We want to connect major industrial areas as well as religious places. The intra-state flight services will connect and boost religious tourism as well as business travel to places like Ambaji, Dwarka, Palitana, Dahej and Ankleshwar in near future. Tourists from outside Gujarat will also be able to save time and will lead to faster economic growth for Gujarat," Saurabh Patel added.

Talking about the launch, Lakshmanan CL, co-founder of Mehair said, "We are thankful to the Government of Gujarat for this opportunity. We are sure the public will find the service extremely useful and exciting and the service will become a vital cog in the tourism initiative of Gujarat. Now people can finish business in a distant city within the state and still make it home in time to their home city the same day."