Flights cut from 15 to 5: HC tells govt to improve connectivity of Jabalpur

Bhopal/Jabalpur: A division bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court asked the state govt to take effective steps to improve the air connectivity of Jabalpur city. The bench, comprising Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf, said that officials of the state govt should hold meetings with officials of airline companies for effective talks on improving the air connectivity of Jabalpur.

The petitioner, Nagrik Upbhokta Marhdarshak Manch, contended that Jabalpur in the past had as many flights as Indore or Bhopal. There were flights to Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and some other places from Jabalpur. On average, there used to be 15 flights from Jabalpur, but it has reduced to five now. Poor air connectivity is a major factor affecting the development of Jabalpur.

The court, while hearing the petition, asked the petitioner to include major airlines operating flights in the country as respondents in the petition. In response to notices issued to airline companies, they said that the fee charged at Jabalpur airport from the flight operators is much more than in other places, which is one major reason why new flights are not starting from Jabalpur and the existing ones have dropped over the past few years.

The largest airline company in the country, Air India, in its reply in the case, said that after a detailed survey, it was not in a position to operate flights from Jabalpur. The charges levelled on airline companies at Dumna airport are higher than in other places, and if the airline companies pay this much tax, they will incur losses in operating flights from Jabalpur rather than hoping for any profit. Air India further said that among 75 airports all across the country, the company has flights from 73 airports; Jabalpur is one of the two airports from which it doesn't operate flights. Profit-loss calculation decides whether operating a flight from a place is viable or not.

Bhopal/Jabalpur: A division bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court asked the state govt to take effective steps to improve the air connectivity of Jabalpur city. The bench, comprising Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf, said that officials of the state govt should hold meetings with officials of airline companies for effective talks on improving the air connectivity of Jabalpur.

The petitioner, Nagrik Upbhokta Marhdarshak Manch, contended that Jabalpur in the past had as many flights as Indore or Bhopal. There were flights to Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and some other places from Jabalpur. On average, there used to be 15 flights from Jabalpur, but it has reduced to five now. Poor air connectivity is a major factor affecting the development of Jabalpur.

The court, while hearing the petition, asked the petitioner to include major airlines operating flights in the country as respondents in the petition. In response to notices issued to airline companies, they said that the fee charged at Jabalpur airport from the flight operators is much more than in other places, which is one major reason why new flights are not starting from Jabalpur and the existing ones have dropped over the past few years.

The largest airline company in the country, Air India, in its reply in the case, said that after a detailed survey, it was not in a position to operate flights from Jabalpur. The charges levelled on airline companies at Dumna airport are higher than in other places, and if the airline companies pay this much tax, they will incur losses in operating flights from Jabalpur rather than hoping for any profit. Air India further said that among 75 airports all across the country, the company has flights from 73 airports; Jabalpur is one of the two airports from which it doesn't operate flights. Profit-loss calculation decides whether operating a flight from a place is viable or not.