New Delhi: Indian (Airlines) has brought Khajuraho on its national network from Friday by introducing a daily flight from Delhi to Khajuraho with enhanced capacity.

The A 320 Airbus will touch Khajuraho and proceed to Varanasi and offer a capacity of over 1,000 seats a week to enable more tourists to visit Khajuraho and enjoy the breathtaking splendour in stone in the 22 temples, now declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Talking to a group of visiting journalists from Delhi, the Regional Director of Indian Manjira Khuran said that earlier a smaller aircraft covered Khajuraho , thrice a week, but it was discontinued. She said "now we are here to stay."

Ms. Khuran said the role played by Indian in the development of the city as a tourist destination could not be under estimated.

She said the holy city of Varanasi was yet another destination that was much sought after by tourists, including overseas tourists. The new flight would be in addition to the A 320 flight linking Varanasi to both Delhi and Mumbai at present.

A press release said the airline would soon be expanding its fleet with 43 brand new Airbus aircrafts and the new fleet would have an audio-visual in flight entertainment system, including a personal monitor on every seat back in the economy class and armrest screen in the executive class.

Addressing a press conference at Khajuraho, the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Minister Yasodhara Raje Scindia explained the initiatives taken by her Government to put the world famous tourist spot on the air map of Indian.

She said the 65 km Mahoba-Khajuraho rail link was expected to be completed by June 2007 and the Government had drawn up a plan to link Khajuraho by road to various towns. For this purpose a memorandum of understanding was to be signed with leading tourist operators. She also gave an overview of the Government's plans to make various places in the State as tourist centres.

The Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh Tourism, Ashwani Lohani said a Facilitation Centre would start functioning from March 2007, which would have all facilities for tourists at one place.

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