Agartala, Aug 12 (PTI) Tripura Transport Minister Sushanta Chowdhury has sought the intervention of Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu to retain existing flight services from Agartala and restore withdrawn routes.
In a letter to the Union minister, Chowdhury said services of Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo and Akasa Air have either been withdrawn, reduced or are proposed to be discontinued on various routes connecting Agartala in recent months.
“Air India has reduced its services and is likely to discontinue operations on the Agartala-Guwahati sector from October 22. Air India Express has also withdrawn/reduced services on important routes, while its Agartala-Bagdogra-Bengaluru service is also reported to be withdrawn,” Chowdhury said in the letter dated August 11.
The minister said IndiGo’s direct Agartala-Hyderabad service is proposed to be withdrawn from October 1, while Akasa Air is scheduled to discontinue its services from Agartala from October 22.
Services on the Agartala-Shillong, Agartala-Aizawl and direct Agartala-Chennai routes had also been withdrawn earlier, he said.
“The reduction in the number of flights, contrary to the growing demand for increased air connectivity from Agartala, has significantly affected the availability of air services from Tripura to major cities across the country,” Chowdhury said.
He said the reduction in services had also led to a sharp increase in airfares, particularly on key routes such as Agartala-Kolkata, Agartala-Delhi, Agartala-Guwahati and Agartala-Bengaluru.
“This is causing considerable financial hardship and inconvenience to passengers, particularly those travelling for medical treatment, higher education, business, official work and other urgent purposes,” he said.
Chowdhury urged Naidu to personally intervene and take up the matter with the airlines concerned.
He urged the Centre to explore all possible measures for restoring withdrawn services, retaining existing flights and augmenting capacity on high-demand routes from Agartala. PTI PS SOM
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