Ghaziabad: Star Air will begin operations on a new route to Mundra in Gujarat from the Hindon civil terminal from Oct 27, and will resume flights on the Kishangarh route, suspended since June, from Oct 25, terminal director Chilaka Mahesh said Wednesday. The announcement came on the sidelines of Yatri Seva Abhiyan, which runs from Thursday to Oct 10.Star Air currently operates two routes from Hindon. From Oct 25, it will resume Kishangarh flights five days a week — Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. From Oct 27, it will add the Mundra route, operating three days a week — Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.IndiGo, meanwhile, will switch its existing Navi Mumbai service to a Mumbai route from Oct 25, operating four days a week — Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday — under the winter schedule.As things stand, IndiGo and Star Air together operate seven routes from Hindon, down sharply from a peak of 21 flights across 15 routes.Mahesh said the defence ministry has agreed to lease 6,210 square metres of land within IAF premises to Airports Authority of India, paving the way for four additional parking bays at the terminal, which currently has only two. “This will give us enough bandwidth to operate back-to-back flights even if a plane is grounded due to a technical glitch or other reason,” he said.The ministry has also given in-principle approval for mixed-timing operations, which would let the terminal bypass IAF’s dawn-to-dusk flight restrictions. “We can either have our own ATC or use IAF’s ATC, which will be manned by retired IAF officials,” Mahesh said.The terminal building currently occupies 22,250 sq m within a total developed area of 42,000 sq m. As part of a long-term expansion plan covering 14.8 acres, consent has been obtained from landowners for 6.8 acres, at an estimated cost of about Rs 70 crore. The land is expected to be acquired shortly.Passenger footfall has fallen from a peak of 6,500 a day to about 800 a day, following the suspension of at least 10 routes and reduced flight frequencies.IndiGo had cut flight frequencies on three key routes from Hindon civil terminal as soaring aviation turbine fuel (ATF) costs add to the pressure on airlines. Navi Mumbai flights were reduced from daily to four days a week, Kolkata from daily to two days and Varanasi from six days to five.At present, IndiGo is operating from Hindon on just five routes — Varanasi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai and Navi Mumbai.An official said the rise in ATF prices, triggered by the West Asia crisis, had forced airlines to trim capacity. “As of Sept 1, ATF prices stood at Rs 121.3 per litre after a 5.5% hike. They were Rs 110 in July and Rs 115 in Aug,” the official had said.“Fuel accounts for roughly 40% to 60% of an airline’s operating costs. IndiGo has reduced domestic capacity by 5% to 7% to cope with the losses, while Air India has cut frequencies by up to 22%,” the official added.
