Mumbai BJP unit demands special flights to north India for summers

The local unit of the ruling BJP has demanded special flights from Mumbai to cities such as Lucknow, Patna, Gorakhpur and Varanasi on the lines of the special trains, to cater to the increased travel demand during the summer season, a senior official said. A memorandum in this regard was given to civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu by the party during his visit to the city last week, who has asked the ministry officials to look into the demand, Mumbai BJP general secretary Amarjeet Mishra said.

The single-runway-operated Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport currently handles on an average 970 aircraft movements (arrivals and departures) per day and is the most slot-constrained airports in the country. A sizeable chunk of the north Indians reside in the metropolis and travel to their native places during the summer vacations. Mishra said long waiting lists and narrowing gap between rail and air fares is increasingly making these people travel by air. "Prabhuji was quite supportive to the demands made by me and he immediately asked his Private Secretary to look into the demand," Mishra said.

"Railway has been running hundreds of north India-bound trains during the summer season to clear the extra passenger rush. "However, despite that it fails to meet the additional demand and hundreds hundreds of passengers don't even get wait-listed tickets," he added. Mishra said even if one special flight is allowed to be operated connecting Mumbai with Varanasi, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Patna and Ranchi, then it will help clear some of the increased passenger rush.

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