Ranchi, Oct. 30: Air Deccan today introduced flights from the city to Delhi.

With the services, the airline became the third operator after Indian and Air Sahara to link Ranchi with the national capital. According to director of Birsa Munda Airport A.V. Krishna, Ranchi will have six flights a day to Delhi and three to Calcutta by March. Besides, efforts are on to slot direct flights from Ranchi to Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore, he said.

About 83 passengers from Ranchi boarded Air Deccan’s inaugural Delhi-Ranchi-Patna-Delhi flight on a 180-seater airbus around 6.17 pm.

Air Deccan is the first airline to begin an airbus service between Ranchi and Delhi, scheduled to fly on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. An Air Deccan official, Krishna Yadav, said the response to the new flight has been overwhelming and over 15 passengers had to return empty-handed. “We have started the new flight after observing the market trends,” he said.

The airline is providing tickets ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,772 for Delhi and is optimistic of a good response.

An Air Sahara officer C.P. Yadav said they are also trying to start a boeing service between Ranchi and Delhi. The schedule of the existing flight between Ranchi-Delhi has changed from yesterday.

“Instead of reaching Ranchi at 3.15 pm and taking off for Delhi at 3.50 pm, Air Sahara’s flight is coming to Ranchi at 2.45 pm and leaving for Delhi at 3.15 pm, the same time as Indian’s. The change had been incorporated from yesterday,” Yadav said.

“Of late, the flight is being delayed due to the change in the schedule, but it will be sorted out in 4-5 days,” he said. Air Sahara had re-routed its Mumbai-Ranchi-Patna-Mumbai service in August because of a greater demand in the Ranchi-Delhi sector.