Lakshadweep in high demand! Alliance Air adds flights to the island amid India-Maldives row

financialexpress.com:

Alliance Air, which is the only Indian airline that operates flights to Lakshadweep, has started additional flights to the island amid the India-Maldives row.

There has been a surge in the number of people wanting to visit Lakshadweep, prompting the airline to start additional flights on the Kochi-Agatti-Kochi route. The additional flights will be operated twice a week, on Sunday and Wednesday, as per a  senior official of Alliance Air.

Lakshadweep tickets sold out till March

Alliance Air runs flights between Kochi in Kerala and Agatti island, which has a regional airport serving Lakshadweep. It operates 70-seater aircraft to Lakshsdweep daily. The airline is running in full capacity and all tickets have been booked till March, an ANI report cited an official as saying. 

The official added that the airline has been letting a lot of queries on phone and social media regarding the tickets. “Following the huge demand for tickets, an additional flight has been added to the route. If required, the frequency of the flight will be increased,” they added.

During a recent Annual General Meeting, SpiceJet CEO Ajay Singh announced that the airline holds exclusive rights under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) for Lakshadweep. He further stated that they are gearing up to initiate flights to Lakshadweep in the near future.

Travel portals have reported seeing a record number of queries for the island. 

Why did the India-maldives row erupt?

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared pictures from his visit to the Union Territory and called for harnessing beach tourism in the island cluster, Maldivian Deputy Minister of Youth Empowerment, Mariyam Shiuna, made a mocking and disrespectful reference to PM Modi’s visit to the Indian