Maha Kumbh 2025: Direct flights from Kolkata to Prayagraj announced
Times of India | 12 December 2024
Alliance Air will operate these six-days-a-week flights, excluding Mondays. Night landings and low-visibility operations will be possible thanks to a new landing system. KOLKATA: The city will get direct air connectivity to Prayagraj, formerly Allahabad, ahead of the Maha Kumbh Mela scheduled from January 13 to February 26. This is the first time that devotees and visitors will be able to fly in directly to the Maha Kumbh.
The Kumbh, held once every six years, and the Maha Kumbh, once every 12 years, are the world’s largest public gatherings and collective acts of faith. The congregation includes ascetics, saints, sadhus, sadhvis, kalpvasis, and pilgrims from all walks of life.
Alliance Air, which operates ATR 72 aircraft, will connect Kolkata with Prayagraj with six days-a-week flights from January 10, 2025. "We will operate flights on all days except Monday. All the flights will be evening operations," an airline official said.
Union civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu on Saturday said that flight landings at night will begin at the Prayagraj airport before the start of Mahakumbh 2025. He said that flights will be able to land even in low visibility conditions. For this, the needed CAT-II landing system has been installed.
Apart from Kolkata, Alliance Air also connects Prayagraj to Delhi, Jaipur, Jabalpur, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Dehradun, and Chandigarh.
IndiGo also operates flights from Prayagraj to Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Lucknow, and Hyderabad. Apart from these two, Akasa Air operates a flight to Mumbai. IndiGo plans to start direct flight services to Indore, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata.
Alliance operated flights to Kolkata and Dehradun last year, while IndiGo operated flights to Indore but later discontinued them.
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