Pune: The much-awaited flights from Pune to Nashik under the Union government's regional connectivity scheme, popularly known as 'Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik' (UDAN), starting on December 22, have been fully booked for the first seven days, which cost Re 1 for early booking.
The Air Deccan flight will take off from Pune at 7.20 pm. The flight will be operated on all days of the week except Monday.
Flight number DN 193 from Nashik (Ozar) to Pune will arrive at 7 pm and depart at 7.20 as flight number DN 194.
"Flights of the 18-seater aircraft have been fully booked till December 29. The actual fare from Pune to Nashik is Rs 1,670. The Beechcraft 1900D is an 18-passenger, pressurised twin-engine turboprop fixed-wing aircraft manufactured by Beechcraft. The aircraft is designed to carry passengers in all weather conditions from airports with relatively short runways," said Captain Gopinath, founder of Air Deccan. There is no plan to start Pune-Kolhapur flight under the UDAN scheme, he added.
For the first phase of the scheme, Air Deccan won the bid to start flight operations from airports located in Ozar (Nashik), Kolhapur, Jalgaon and Solapur. Sources said flights connecting Mumbai to Nashik and Mumbai to Jalgaon airport are also set to start operations from December 23. The airline has declared some of the tickets for the inaugural flights would be sold for Re 1. The bookings started on December 14.
UDAN is the Union government's regional airport development and regional connectivity scheme (RCS). The scheme will connect small towns with fares as low as Rs 2,500 for hour-long flights.
