In a little over two months after the inaugural flight took off on April 2, with flight SG 611 departing Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) and arriving at Ayodhya’s Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, the direct service between the two cities has been discontinued. SpiceJet has cancelled this direct service and the last flight operated on May 30.
Booking a flight from Hyderabad to Ayodhya on SpiceJet’s website shows a layover at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, with a total flight time of seven hours and 25 minutes. Sources tell us that the direct service got a good response initially, but the demand soon petered out and there was tepid response from flyers.
The Genesis
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Telangana BJP chief G. Kishan Reddy, who was then the union minister for culture and tourism had posted a letter on X saying that he had written to the Minister for Civil Aviation requesting to connect Hyderabad and Ayodhya. In the letter dated February 26, he stated, “The immense religious significance for countless devotees has led to the demand for efficient and direct transportation to Ram Janmabhoomi. Currently, the lack of direct flight service between Hyderabad and Ayodhya poses a significant challenge for devotees who wish to travel conveniently.”
As of February, SpiceJet was connecting eight Indian cities to Ayodhya but since then it has terminated direct flights from six of those eight cities which are Chennai, Bangalore, Jaipur, Patna, Darbhanga, and Hyderabad. Currently, SpiceJet only offers direct flights to Ayodhya from Ahmedabad and Delhi.
