Raju to flag off IndiGo’s Tirupati-Hyd flight today

Tirupati:  Low-cost airline IndiGo will begin its operations from Tirupati with daily flights to Hyderabad and Bengaluru from Sunday. Tirupati will be connected by three daily non-stop flights to Hyderabad and double daily non-stop flights to Bengaluru, the airline said.

Civil Aviation Minister AshoK Gajapathi Raju will flag off the Indigo flights from Tirupati on Sunday. The minister will go by the same flight to Hyderabad. Apart from this, Tirupati will also be connected to many new cities on IndiGo's existing network of Airbus 320s and ATRs. IndiGo will connect the temple town to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Dubai, Singapore among other cities via Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mangaluru.

Apart from the government operator Air India, many other private operators are planning to tap the business opportunities by increasing their fleet of flights. This is happening because of the AP government’s decision to improve air connectivity between the temple town and other regional cities like Amaravati (Vijayawada), Vizag, Rajamahendravram and others.

Also, it will be a boon to tourists and other commuters from Tirupati to other places like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Goa, Coimbatore, besides Vijayawada and Vizag.  A year ago, direct air connectivity was available only to Hyderabad and Delhi from Tirupati. Since the Central government converted Tirupati into an international airport in 2014-15, domestic air connectivity has been increasing gradually. A few incentives provided by the AP government to private air operators also contribute to the increase of air traffic from Tirupati.

Six months ago, regional private flight operator Air Carnival had come forward to run flights from Tirupati to Industrial hub Coimbatore. Currently Air India, Alliance Air, Spice Jet, TrueJet flight operators have been operating flights daily around eight trips to Hyderabad, one trip to Delhi, two trips to Vijayawada and Vizag.