Lucknow, Aug 5 (UNI) In another step towards easing air travel in the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated AirAsia India’s flight services connecting state capital Lucknow with Bengaluru, New Delhi and Goa on Friday.
AirAsia’s flight services from Lucknow to Kolkata and Mumbai will commence in September.
Emphasising the importance of seamless air connectivity in ensuring the state’s development and inclusive growth, Adityanath reiterated his resolve to present the best state in terms of connectivity, which would also open up new employment opportunities for the youth in the state.
On the occasion, congratulating the people of Lucknow for getting better air services, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia also lauded the efforts and the vision of the chief minister for improving air connectivity in the state. "To develop UP according to its potential, as many as 63 new routes have been added recently which will also be increased to about 108 routes," he said.
Adityanath said that the state has benefited immensely from the 'UDAN' scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The rapid expansion in air connectivity is a testament to PM Modi’s commitment where he said that even the ones who wear slippers should be able to travel in flights," he said.
Stating that before 2017 the state had only two properly functioning airports including Lucknow and Varanasi, and that the ones in Gorakhpur and Agra remained functional partially, the chief minister said that the provision of air services has significantly improved from four airports to just 25 destinations to now nine airports offering flight services.
"Five years ago, flight services from Lucknow were only available to 15 cities, however, today, as many as 30 cities are connected with the state capital," he said.
Maintaining that seamless connectivity is essential for the development of any place, Adityanath said that his government has prioritised improving the connectivity in the state be it through expressways, air services or any other medium of travelling.
"Soon, the air services will also be started from Aligarh, Azamgarh, Chitrakoot, Shravasti and Sonbhadra," he said while expressing gratitude to the Union Civil Aviation Minister for the constant cooperation provided by the Centre.
Expressing gratitude to Scindia, Minister of State VK Singh and CM Yogi, AirAsia CEO and MD Sunil Bhaskaran termed the start of the services from Lucknow as historic. He said eight Air Asia flights will be available from Lucknow.
As many as five flights have started on Friday, while three flights to Kolkata and Mumbai will start from September.
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