New Delhi: Ministry of Civil Aviation commenced the flight operations Saturday (16.04.2022) on the Keshod-Mumbai route under the RCS-UDAN scheme of the Government of India. Alliance Air was awarded the route under the UDAN RCS-4.1 bidding process. With this, 417 routes would be operationalized under the UDAN-RCS scheme.
The inaugural event was graced by Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Shri. Bhupendrabhai Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Vineet Sood, CEO, Alliance Air and many other dignitaries from the State Government of Gujarat, MoCA, AAI and Alliance Air.
The airline will operate thrice a week flights on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday & will deploy its ATR 72-600, 70-seater turboprop aircraft designed for shorter-distance flights on the route. With this, Alliance Air will become 1st airline to connect Keshod to Mumbai under UDAN.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia said, “I feel blessed and honoured to be in Gujarat, especially in Keshod which has a place in our history and with this new UDAN flight that we are starting today will connect the place which was beloved by our Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi with the financial capital of our country. 2 famous world-renowned tourist attractions – Somnath Temple and Gir National Park are located near Keshod. With the launch of the new route, tourists will be able to visit both easily. Apart from this, various industries are established in Keshod such as furniture, textile, chemicals, cement etc which will also be benefitted from the commencement of new flight route.”
Talking about the development plans of the Ministry of Civil Aviation in Gujarat, Minister elaborated “Apart from starting the new flight route today, we will also connect Keshod with the state capital Ahmedabad. In this year’s summer schedule, Ahmedabad has been connected to 3 cities in India – Amritsar, Agra and Ranchi. Similarly, Porbandar and Rajkot have been connected with Mumbai. 2 new greenfield airports are also being constructed in Hirasar and Dholera which will have 23 lakh passengers per year and 30 lakh passengers per year with a budget allocation of INR 1405 crore and INR 1305 crore respectively”. A special route connecting Porbandar and Delhi will start on 27th April, informed the Minister of Civil Aviation.
Keshod Airport is owned by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Initially, the airport was refurbished and revived in the late 1980s to facilitate scheduled operations. For the last 21 years, commercial aircraft have not landed at this airport.
AAI has invested an amount of Rs. 25 crores to upgrade Keshod airport for resurfacing of Runway, procurement of Aircraft Crash Fire Tender (ACFT), new Civil Enclave including Terminal Building, Apron for two ATR-72 types of aircraft and Link Taxiway, etc
The new UDAN flight route will bring Keshod on the national air map and add convenience & comfort to travellers of this region as Keshod is a tourist destination in the Junagarh district of Gujarat and it is surrounded by the Arabian Sea and beautiful forests. Somnath Temple and Gir National Park are located near Keshod. It is pertinent to mention that at present, it takes about 16 hours to travel by road from Keshod to Mumbai which will be reduced to just 1 hour 25 minutes with the commencement of the new flight.
The Flight schedule is as below:
| SN | Departure | Arrival | Frequency (per week) | Departure (Hrs.) | Arrival (Hrs.) | Aircraft Type |
| 1 | Mumbai | Keshod | Wednesday, Friday, | 1200 | 1325 | ATR-72 600 |
| 2 | Keshod | Mumbai | Sunday | 1350 |
