THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Passengers can fly from the capital city to Kannur for just Rs. 1899. From Kannur to Kochi, the ticket is going to cost Rs 1299. Project ‘UDAN’ of central government aimed at connecting small cities through the air is being realized in Kerala too. Indigo will start ‘UDAN’ service from March 31.

While an 11-hour bus journey from Thiruvananthapuram to Kannur will cost Rs. 1200, it will only take two hours on a flight. Second class A/c ticket in Malabar Express train will cost Rs. 1165. The journey time will be 12 hours and 30 minutes. Now everyone can travel from Kannur to Kochi and Coimbatore at cheap rates through ‘UDAN’.

‘UDAN’ (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagarik) is a project that realizes the dream of a flight journey for the common man. There will be flight services from Coimbatore, Mysuru, Salem, Puducherry, Tuticorin, Visakhapatnam and Baroda to Thiruvananthapuram.

Indigo is the airline company with the cheapest flights. More companies might become part of ‘Udan’. Services to Thiruvananthapuram will be at 1.05 p.m. and the return flight will be at 2.45 p.m. Flights to Kochi will be at 7.50 a.m. and 5.15 p.m. Return flights will be at 11.45 p.m. and 8.45 p.m.

There are 688 routes in the ‘UDAN’ project that connects small cities. The central government will have a burden of Rs. 1167 crores by providing subsidy for this. Twenty percent of this amount will be given by the state government as ‘viability gap fund’.