VISAKHAPATNAM: For the first time, a direct flight to Bangalore from the city was introduced by Air Deccan on Wednesday. Flying via Tirupati, it was also the first air connection to the pilgrim centre.

Air Deccan had already connected the industrial and port city with Hyderabad and Chennai, said its Andhra Pradesh operations in-charge M. Ramakrishna at a press conference here on Wednesday.

Air Deccan, the three-year-old low-cost airline and second largest in the country with a market share of 21.2 per cent, is operating flight from all the five airports in the State, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry and Tirupati and is keen on connecting Kadapa and Warangal once the airstrips there are made fit for aircrafts' operations, he says.

Tickets could be booked three months in advance and the price of tickets depended on the time of booking and demand and was decided by computer software.

The price of ticket from Visakhapatnam to Bangalore would be between Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 5,000. Fare to Tirupati would be a few hundred rupees less.

The flight to Bangalore would be operated with a 72-seat aircraft. The occupancy was 60 per cent on the first flight and the bookings made for ensuing dates also showed the same trend. Booking could be made through its website www.airdeccan.net or the 24x7 call centre (39008888, by prefixing city code).

Timings

The flight leaves Bangalore at 10.55 a.m., reaches Tirupati at 11.45 a.m. and Visakhapatnam at 1.40 p.m. It leaves Visakhapatnam at 1.55 p.m., reaches Tirupati at 3.35 p.m. and arrives at Bangalore at 4.40 p.m.

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