After Air India and Jet Airways introduced Imphal-New Delhi direct flight service from January 2 and March 25 respectively, budget carrier Air Asia also started to operate Imphal-Delhi direct flight from Saturday, official sources in Imphal said.
The private airlines will operate the direct flights seven days a week and the daily scheduled arrival at Imphal is 12.25 pm and the departure schedule is 12.55 pm.
The new development is an outcome of the North East Development Summit (NEDS) held in Imphal from November 21-22, 2017 in which the State Government and the company inked a memorandum of understanding under Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s initiative towards enhancing connectivity between Manipur and the rest of the country.
Meanwhile the State Government has thanked the Prime Minister’s Office and the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation for making the new development possible.
Air India had launched direct flight between Imphal and New Delhi from January 2 this year. The flight operates only on Sunday and Tuesday.
Jet Airways also started operation of Imphal-Delhi direct flight from March 25. It operates on four days a week, on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
Imphal which once had a single flight to New Delhi on a weekly basis now has at least 8-10 flights a day. The other flights in operation at Imphal International Airport apart from Air India on a daily basis are Air Asia and Indigo.
With five flights on a daily basis, Indigo has the maximum number of flights. It has two flights from Imphal to New Delhi via Guwahati, two from Imphal to Kolkata and one Imphal to Hyderabad via Guwahati.