India Today - Agra to be connected directly to 7 major cities by air this year

Aug 05,2019

This year could be a major breakthrough for the tourism industry of Agra which has been demanding air connectivity of Agra to major metropolitan cities of India.

Agra will be directly connected to seven major cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Jaipur, Lucknow, Delhi, Varanasi and Bhopal by air from December.

The announcement, made by the Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in Parliament, was welcomed by the tourism industry of Agra.

Agra MP SP Singh Baghel told IndiaToday.in that he had raised this issue in Parliament during a debate on a bill on Airport Economical Regulatory Act. He said that Agra was connected to Khajuraho and Varanasi in 1972 and since then, no new sector has been introduced as a regular flight to the city. This had made Agra lag behind the rest of the tourist destinations in the country, Baghel added.

Baghel also said that Agra needs to be connected to every state capital of the country. "A large number of young people from Agra are studying or working in cities like Kota, Pune, Bengaluru and other major cities. Not only will they benefit from the increase in number of flights, but it will also boost tourism," SP Singh Baghel said.

Agra Tourist Welfare Chamber president Prahalad Agarwal said that if the flights start as promised by the minister then it will change the face of tourism in Agra. These long-distance flights now need to be augmented with flights to Guwahati and Kolkata as well.

Agra Tourist Welfare Chamber secretary Vishal Sharma said that there have been numerous promises to the tourism industry of the city about flights, but none of them have materialised. "It remains to be seen how soon the minister's promises bear fruit," Vishal Sharma said.