The small airport at Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh is set to be operational from March 8. Under the government’s regional connectivity scheme (RCS), Alliance Air’s ATR 72 aircraft will be in operation between Bareilly and Delhi. These flights will ply on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The state already has seven airports in Lucknow, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Hindon, Agra and Prayagraj. Bareilly would be the eighth one.

Besides Alliance Air, other airlines including Indigo are also assessing feasibility to operate flights between Bareilly and other cities.

The Narendra Modi has flagged off the UDAN programme under RCS.

Under the UDAN scheme, 22 airports include one is in Andaman Nicobar, three in Assam, two each in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan have been planned. The aim of the scheme is to connect the underserved airports to key airports through flights that will cost Rs 2,500 for per hour flight.

Under the RCS programme airlines are offered subsidies, which enable them to fix cheaper prices.

According to a report by IANS, civil aviation secretary Surendra Singh said the state government has spent around Rs 83 crore on construction of a civil enclave in Bareilly. This is apart from the around 35 acres of land which has been made available to Airports Authority of India (AAI) free of cost and Rs 9.8 crore for ensuring dedicated power supply, the report noted.