Kota airport authorities have stopped all flights of a private carrier connecting the city as it failed to submit mandatory clearances.
Low cost carrier Supreme Airlines, which is the only airline operating from the city, had started flights between Kota and Delhi on April 11 using a nine-seat fixed-wing craft. It had also been operating flights connecting Jaipur and Kota since August last year.
Both the flights were stopped on Friday after the airline failed to submit mandatory clearances from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), said Kota airport officer, Lokesh Nirwan.
Nirwan said the flights were started after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the company.
Flights connecting Jaipur were operating until now as the airline had obtained a non-schedule operation permit, but when the company started operating flights to Delhi, without obtaining the mandatory clearances from the AAI and the DGCA, AAI instructed Kota airport authorities to stop the flights, Nirwan said.
Supreme Airlines’ general manager, Bhagwat Prasad said it was not fair to stop the flights as Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje wanted air connectivity between smaller cities in the state to ensure people can avail low-cost air travel.
He also questioned the manner of stopping flight operations when the airline had been running flights between Jaipur and Kota since August last year.
“It is unfair that the Kota airport authority has suddenly sent us a mail on Friday to stop operating the flights,” he said.
Prasad noted that passengers had to de-board at Delhi after they had completed boarding formalities, following the cancellation of the flight by the Kota airport authority.
Prasad, however, said that Supreme Airlines is trying to obtain the mandatory clearances from the DGCA and the AAI to resume flights to Jaipur and Delhi as early as possible.
