The Hindu : Taneja Aerospace offers chartered flights

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 16, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Taneja Aerospace offers chartered flights

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Oct. 15 . The next time agitators block the road to Mysore and get train services suspended, you can still reach there and in a much shorter time from Bangalore.

Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Ltd. will fly you there in just 35 minutes. The cost for the round trip for four passengers will work out to Rs. 43,000.

The Divisional Manager (Marketing) of Taneja Aerospace, Anjan Rao, said: "There are 440 small airstrips in the country built by the British during World War II when they expected an invasion. Many are still usable. Karnataka alone has about 15 of them."

On Monday, the company flew a group of Japanese to Hampi and back using the airstrip near Hospet. The journey time was one hour and 15 minutes from Bangalore. The Japanese flew in a P68 C Italian-made twin-engine aircraft that can carry four passengers. "This aircraft is now being made by us at our plant in Hosur under licence from Partenavia of Italy," Mr. Rao said.

During the agitation over the Cauvery issue in the past, Taneja Aerospace made several flights to Mysore from Bangalore. "There were major corporates such as Larsen and Toubro who had to take their overseas visitors to Mysore, and the chartered flights came in handy for them. Even during normal times there is a demand for such charters," Mr. Rao said.

Mysore and Hampi are not the only places to which you can now take a flight. There are airstrips or regular airports in Mangalore, Hubli, Belgaum, Harihar, Gulbarga (Sedam), Bellary, and Bidar, which the company is using. The only airstrip in the Malnad region at Hassan is in a state of disrepair. "If the Government makes the Hassan airstrip usable, we will definitely fly there too," Mr. Rao said. You can also fly from Bangalore to pilgrim centres such as Tirupati, Puttaparti, Madurai, and Tiruchi. In Bangalore, the company uses the HAL airport. It can also use the Jakkur airstrip if a customer wants to land there.

The P68 C aircraft can take off and land on 600-meter rough or semi-prepared airstrips such as those left behind by the British, some of them in the most unlikely places. The aircraft has a Bendix King colour weather radar, which enables the pilot either to circumnavigate or avoid bad weather.

The aircraft used by Taneja are said to have one of the lowest operating costs in their class. The planes can be hired for Rs. 22,000 per flying hour, and they have a cruising speed of 280 km. per hour. This means a car journey of about five to six hours can be reduced to just one hour and in better comfort. Details may be had on ph: 5550609 or 5550610.

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