Hisar-Chandigarh flight service starts

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar flagged off the Hisar-Chandigarh flight service from the Hisar airport on Tuesday.

The flight, started under the regional connectivity scheme, was boarded by Khattar as its first passenger, an official said.

Khattar said SpiceJet would initially provide daily service of two flights between Hisar and Chandigarh. The timing of the flights from Hisar are 8 am and 4 pm, and from Chandigarh are 9.30 am and 5.30 pm.

The price of an one-way flight from Hisar to Chandigarh has been fixed at Rs 1,674 per ticket.

After Chandigarh, SpiceJet will gradually expand its air services from Hisar to Delhi, Jammu, Dehradun and Shimla, according to the chief minister.

"Today, air travel is being started through a small seven-seater airplane," Khattar said, adding that 18-seater and larger airplanes would also be able to fly from the airport later.

He said the process of advance booking would start after a week, for which SpiceJet had to complete some formalities.

According to the chief minister, the Hisar airport will be developed as an international-level airport in three phases. For this, 4,200 acres of land has been made available and the process of providing 3,000 acres of additional land is in progress.

The length of the runway, which is 4,000 feet at present, will be increased to 10,000 feet, a required criteria for an international-level airport, Khattar said.