By Hemang Palan

Government of India-owned airline, Alliance Air is most likely to increase the frequency of its flights between Mumbai and Keshod in the near future. This information was communicated by Mr Vineet Sood – one of the top aviation experts of India and the CEO of Alliance Air.

“Since April 2022, Alliance Air offers flights between Mumbai and Keshod thrice in a week under Government of India’s RCS or Regional Connectivity UDAN Scheme. In near future we have plans to increase our connectivity to airports like Keshod, Ahmedabad, Bhuj and Diu as we are working out on the feasibility of the connections which are beneficial for boosting trade and tourism,” said Mr Sood.

“We have only one parking slot available for an Alliance Air aircraft at Mumbai Airport currently. We are in regular and constant touch with the civil aviation authorities and also officials of Mumbai International Airport Limited to get another parking slot at Mumbai airport for our aircraft at the earliest. Once we get the second slot, we will plan to enhance our existing connectivity with other airports including the airfields located in Gujarat and Diu,” added Mr Sood.

Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik, known by its acronym UDAN is a regional airport development program of the Government of India and part of the Regional Connectivity Scheme of upgrading under-serviced air routes. Its goal is to make air travel affordable.

Mumbai-Keshod-Mumbai Alliance Air thrice-in-a-week ATR aircraft connectivity is extremely popular amongst business as well as leisure travellers considering Keshod airport’s proximity to popular tourist attractions like Somnath temple and Gir forest, and Veraval  town - a sea foods export hub of Gujarat’s Saurashtra region. Alliance Air operates an ATR 72-600, a 70-seater turbo prop aircraft designed for shorter distances on Mumbai-Keshod-Mumbai route on every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Alliance Air’s flying time between Mumbai and Keshod is approximately 75 minutes.

Alliance Air currently offers tickets on flights between Mumbai and Keshod under UDAN RCS. A ticket booked one month in advance on Mumbai-Keshod or Keshod-Mumbai Alliance Air flight costs at least Rs 2983. The upward fares offered by Alliance Air flights on this route are solely based on demand for the seats on a particular date. Such upward fares are based on dynamic fare pricing and flexi fare structures offered by Alliance Air. It takes around 16 hours for a direct train to cover the distance between Mumbai and Keshod, and the fare of a first air-conditioned class train ticket on this route is Rs 2860 whereas the fare of a second air-conditioned class train ticket on this route is Rs 1700.
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Keshod Airport, spread across 450 acres of land, was built by the last ruling Nawab of Junagadh, Mohabatkhanji III by acquiring the land from Kotadia Patel community in the early 1930s. It is believed that Nawab constructed this small airport for his personal use in 1945. This airport was inaugurated in 1947. In the late 1980s, Keshod airport was revived to provide scheduled operations. Incidentally, from this airport of Keshod the Nawab of Junagadh fled to Pakistan in his own small aircraft within a couple of months of inauguration when the princely State of Junagadh was unified with independent India during partition.
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Keshod airport is maintained and managed by the Government of India's Airports Authority of India. A commercial aircraft cannot currently land at Keshod airport after sunset as night-landing facility is not available at this small airfield. The existing infrastructure of the Keshod airport terminal is unfortunately not up to the mark currently, and the airport-building looks no better than the Gujarat State Transport Bus Depot which is located only a few kilometres away from the Keshod airstrip !