The Hindu Business Line : IA to resume flights to Pak from Jan 9

INDIAN Airlines will commence a twice-a-week flight on the Delhi-Lahore-Delhi sector from January 9. IA officials said that the flight is to be operated with a 145-seater Airbus A-320 aircraft every Monday and Friday.

IA officials said that booking for the Lahore flight would open from Wednesday. Direct air links between India and Pakistan were snapped on January 1, 2002 when both closed their respective air space for use by aircraft registered in each other's countries.

On the issue of IA starting flights to Karachi, officials said that a decision would be announced at a later date. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has already announced that it will operate six weekly flights to India from January 1, next year. PIA plans to operate a twice-a-week flight on the Lahore-Delhi-Lahore sector apart from offering connections between Mumbai and Karachi.

While officials said that the fares for the Delhi-Lahore sector will be market driven, the International Air Travel Association (IATA) has pegged the air fare at Rs 6,795 for an economy class return ticket. Similarly, the IATA business class return fare on the sector is pegged at Rs 8,830. However, the actual fare which a passenger will pay for travel on the sector is likely to be lower.

In addition to regular operations to Pakistan, IA is to operate two special flights on the Delhi-Islamabad-Delhi sector on January 2 and January 7. The four special flights are being especially operated to ferry people for the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation (SAARC) summit which is being hosted by Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the opening of Pakistan air space would mean that IA passengers travelling from Delhi to Sharjah and Dubai will be able to save up to an hour on the flying time from January 1.

Official sources told Business Line that passengers travelling on IC-881 on the Delhi-Amritsar-Sharjah sector will be able to save one hour while those travelling on IC-895 on the Jaipur-Delhi-Dubai sector will be able to save 25 minutes. Besides, passengers on IC-883 flying the Delhi-Lucknow-Sharjah sector will save about 20 minutes.

However, it will not be just IA passengers who are likely to benefit from opening of Pakistan airspace. Passengers flying with Air India from North India to Europe and the US too will be able to save about 1 hour of flying time. Besides, the airline will be able to prune its fuel bill by between Rs 35 crore and Rs 40 crore annually, sources said.

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