Marking the celebrations of Gujarat Foundation Day on May 1, the Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Saturday handed over a commitment letter to Surat-based airline Ventura AirConnect to start intra-state flight services connecting Ahmedabad with major cities of the state.

The airline has won the state government's tender to launch intra-state air connectivity. "We have got intimation from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and DGCA to restore our permission and we will be back to sky in the next few days. We have won the tender to provide intra-state connectivity in Gujarat," said Kartikey Garasia, CEO, Ventura AirConnect, airline owned by a group of Diamond merchants from Surat with company name Diamond Aeronautics Pvt Limited.

The company is expected to provide services for 3 years with government subsidy of Rs 22,900 per flying hour for monthly 200 hours.

At the Gujarat Air Show in Ahmedabad on Saturday, the chief minister Patel handed over the commitment letter to the airline, which operates a fleet of 9-seater Cessna (single turboprop) 208B Grand Caravans.

In 2015, it started flights to connect Surat with Bhavnagar and Rajkot in Saurashtra but later its services were suspended for security reasons. However, the same will be resumed with increased number of flights connecting Ahmedabad with other key cities of the State.

"Post the award of the tender, now Ahmedabad will be connected to Bhuj/Kandla, Surat, Keshod, Porbandar and Rajkot. The city of Surat will be connected to Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar. These are initial routes and we plan to add more in future. The flight timings will be published once appropriate permission for parking slots at particular airports are received," Garasia informed.

The company has also laid out plans to increase fleet size by adding three more aircrafts. The company is confident of getting sufficient traffic to operate for more than 400 flying hours a month.

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