Ventura Airconnect, a new private commuter air-operator, will start its commuter aircraft service for four central Indian destinations — Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore and Jabalpur from next month. The company has started online-booking for the service.
Ventura was the only company to accept the Madhya Pradesh government's offer to attract small 12-seater aircraft like Cessna that could commute and use abandoned air-strips in tier-II towns like Satna, Shivpuri and Pachmarhi.
The state is offering freebies like Rs 8 crore per year against seat occupancy for government officials and cent percent compensation on value added tax on ATF (aviation turbine fuel). Besides, a nominal fee of Rs 2500 per landing for ambulance and fire brigade is also being provided.
Delhi-based Ventura will start its operations from the first week of September and would commute on Bhopal-Jabalpur and Bhopal-Gwalior routes. Earlier, Air-Deccan had started operations on these two routes, but later dropped it due to insufficient availability of passengers. It would also connect Bhopal to Indore and later cover Satna, Pachmarhi and Ujjain on its routes.
“We will start our services most probably from seventh of next month subjected to DGCA clearance. Our 12-seater Cessna Carvan Commuter aircraft are the latest and will ferry on Bhopal-Indore, Bhopal-Gwalior, Bhopal-Jabalpur routes. Later we will connect Satna, Ujjain and Pachmarhi also,” a company official told Business Standard, adding, “We will book only nine seats in each aircraft.”
The state government will pay for unbooked seats on a weekly basis.
The government will buy four seats on regular basis for its officials and will compensate to the private carrier if these reserved seats remain unwritten by government. The private airliner will however be allowed to sell those seats in market but will not be reimbursed for the same. "We have not received responses from other private operators except for Ventura," a senior government official told Business Standard.