JAMMU, INDIA, June 17, 2005: Private carrier Jagson Airlines, which operates between Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, will start helicopter operations for Amarnath pilgrims with 44 daily services to the holy shrine from Srinagar and Baltal in Jammu and Kashmir. The air trip bypasses several days of difficult hiking to the mountain cave shrine to Lord Siva. The chopper operations, which would start from June 21 and go on till August 20, would cost US$230 per round-trip from Baltal and $285 from Srinagar, Jagson chief J. P. Gupta said. A core team of former army and air force officials has been formed to oversee the Amarnath operations, he said, adding that three Bell-407 choppers with a seating capacity of five would be used for the purpose. The chopper would have two pilots onboard. While there would be four flights a day from Srinagar which would take about 40 minutes, there would be 40 flights from Baltal, from where the Amarnath cave can be reached in seven minutes, he said, adding that Jagson has not worked out any package for the Amarnath trip. Asked about plans to launch scheduled operations, he said it would begin within five months, for which the carrier was looking at 50-seater aircraft, but refused to divulge details.
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