New Delhi:
In the first of its kind helicopter service, pilgrims will now be able to fly directly to the holy city of Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh from the Delhi airport daily from Wednesday.
The inaugural flight of state-run Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited (PHHL) will be flagged off at Vrindavan by Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh's son and RLD MP Jayant Chaudhary.
In Delhi, the service, launched in association with UP Tourism, will be available from Terminal 1-D of the IGI Airport, an official spokesperson said.
He said a one-way ticket per passenger will cost Rs 3,900 and return fare is priced at Rs 7,000.
PHHL has recently conducted a detailed study in Uttar Pradesh to connect the Buddhist circuit by helicopter and plans to extend such services to these destinations in the near future, the spokesperson said.
PHHL, which has a mixed fleet of about 50 helicopters, has been operating chopper services to several pilgrim centres including Vaishnodevi, Kedarnath, Amarnath and Badrinath.
It also operates flights in Assam, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep and plans to start services in Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh shortly.
The public sector helicopter firm is also planning to venture into fixed-wing aircraft and seaplane operations, PHHL officials said.