By Praveen Dwivedi

Bhopal, Oct 15 (IANS): If everything proceeds as per the plan, Rewa will become the first district in Madhya Pradesh to have direct flight connectivity with state capital Bhopal, as its Raja Bhoj Airport is all set to connect the two destinations by the end of 2021.

According to officials at the Raja Bhoj Airport, flight connectivity between Bhopal and Rewa has been approved by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).

"Raja Bhoj Airport has got approval for flight connectivity between Bhopal and Rewa. Rewa would be the first district which will have direct connectivity of flights from Bhopal," said K.L. Agarwal, Director, Raja Bhoj Airport.

He informed that an agency has also been selected to run the filghts.

Replying to whether there will be daily flight services between Bhopal and Rewa, Agarwal said, "It would be decided by the air service agency and the Madhya Pradesh government. The agency would conduct a survey and then decide whether to run daily or weekly flights."

Asked about the Raipur flight, Agarwal said that IndiGo will start daily services from November 2, whereas flights between Bhopal and Rewa are likely to start by the end of 2021.

Under RCS, plans are to connect underserved airports to key airports through flights that will cost nearly Rs 2,500 per hour. The scheme also envisages to provide subsidy to the airlines to offer these fares.

The RCS is applicable on routes with a length between 200 and 800 km.

Raipur, the capital of the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh, will be the second new destination from Bhopal's Raja Airport, a senior official told IANS.

At present, a total 30 flights are operating from the Raja Bhoj Airport to destinations like New Delhi, Mumbai, Agra, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad etc.

Apart from Bhopal, there are some other prominent cities in Madhya Pradesh such as Ujjain, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur, but these don't have direct air connectivity with the state capital.