Dehradun-Pithoragarh flight: Four days on, delay, cancellation irk passengers

PITHORAGARH: Four days after the Doon-Pantnagar-Pithoragarh flight was inaugurated by chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat in a “major boost” to connectivity between Garhwal and Kumaon regions of the state, technical glitches marred the initial jamboree. The flight was four hours late on Friday while the air service remained suspended on Sunday.
Subhash Anthwal, operational in-charge of Heritage Aviation, the firm tasked by the government to run the air service, said, “Operations remained suspended on Sunday because of a technical glitch in the plane.We are trying to accommodate Sunday’s passengers on Monday’s flight. Till now, five Pithoragarh-Doon passengers while all Pithoragarh-Pantnagar passengers have cancelled their tickets. The plane will make an extra trip today to accommodate all the passengers.”
Meanwhile, passengers expressed their displeasure over flight cancellation within days of beginning the commercial operations.
Climber Yogesh Garvayal, a Mount Everest summiteer who had booked a ticket from Pithoragarh to Doon earlier, had to hire a taxi to reach Haldwani. “I had to spend more money and time for no fault of mine. It was a scheduled flight and the aviation company should have made arrangements for the passengers. The breach of passengers’ trust on the fourth day of the service itself doesn’t bode well for the route,” Garvayal said.
The flight connecting the state capital with the two key outposts of Kumaon has been envisaged under the ambitious UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) scheme of the Centre and is operated by Heritage Aviation which also provides heli-services at Kedarnath during the Char Dham Yatra. Initially, a nine-seater plane is deployed on the route. The aircraft leaves Dehradun at 9.30 am and reaches Pithoragarh at 10.20 am. After a 20-minute halt, the aircraft leaves for Pantnagar and reaches there at 11.10 am.
The flight departs Pantnagar at 11.30 am and reaches Pithoragarh at 12 noon. At 12.20 pm, it leaves from Pithoragarh and reaches Dehradun at 1.10 pm. While the trip from Dehradun to Pithoragarh costs a passenger Rs 1,570, the fare from Pithoragarh to Pantnagar is Rs 1,410 per passenger.
Interestingly, the Naini Saini airport had been inaugurated in 1991 but did not see any commercial flights for 28 years as clearance from the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) was not forthcoming because some houses were situated near the airstrip and there were issues regarding the length of the airstrip as well. Even after the flight between Doon and Pithoragarh was announced under the UDAN scheme, there were consistent delays and the date of the inaugural flight was pushed forward several times. In fact, CM Trivendra Singh Rawat and home minister Rajnath Singh had flagged off a trial flight on October 8 last year but commercial operations on the route could start only this month.