New Delhi: Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India, started a new service from Delhi to Bareilly under the government's UDAN scheme.
The plane took off with an all-women crew to mark International women's day.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri launched the inaugural flight virtually from Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. Labour Minister Santosh Gangwal also witnessed the inaugural session.
Read: Alliance Air to operate inaugural flight with all-women crew on Women's Day
Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Bareilly is the 56th airport that will be operated under the UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) scheme.
"It is a moment of great pride for us today as, on the occasion of Women's Day, Alliance Air is operating the Delhi-Bareilly inaugural flight with an all-women crew," said Puri.
He also said India is leading in the proportion of women pilots than any other nation as it's carriers employ close to 12.4% women pilots, which is much higher than the world average of 5.4%.
Read: Alliance Air commences Mumbai-Goa daily direct flights
"We all know that Bareilly is also one of the gateways of Uttarakhand and with the launch of Bareilly flights to cities like Delhi and Mumbai, a new tourist circuit is created with Uttarakhand," said Labour Minister Santosh Gangwal.
Speaking on the occasion, Civil Aviation Secretary Usha Padhee said eight airports have been connected in Uttar Pradesh under the UDAN scheme and till date 323 routes have been operationalised, including 48 airports, 5 helipads and two water aerodromes in the country.
"We are celebrating the Women's Day with an all-women crew today and for the first time in Alliance Air history, we have deployed all-women crew for the inaugural flight to Bareilly under the command of women pilots, women crew, women engineers, women aircraft dispatchers and women Air Traffic Controller (ATC)," said Hardeep A De Singh, Alliance Air Chief Executive Officer.
Alliance Air has deployed its 72 seater ATR 72-600 aircraft for the flights to Bareilly and the airline will operate four times
a week on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Read: Air India, Alliance Air ferrying medical supplies: Govt
Bareilly will be the eighth airport in the state to be operational after Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Hindon, Agra and Punjab. At present, UP has two international airports -- Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport at Lucknow and Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport at Varanasi.
Once the Kushinagar airport begins operating international flights, it will become the third international airport in the state.
