Alliance Air began direct flights between Bhopal and Patna from Monday, August 10, 2026.

The service runs three days a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays, on a 70-seater aircraft.

The introductory one-way fare from Patna to Bhopal has been set at Rs 4,622, while the Bhopal-to-Patna fare starts at Rs 4,483.

The new route connects Madhya Pradesh’s capital directly with Bihar’s capital, a link expected to benefit Bihar-origin residents in Madhya Pradesh, as well as traders and business travellers.

The Bhopal-Patna launch forms part of a wider Alliance Air expansion, which has also introduced Bhopal-Rewa, Rewa-Kolkata and Jabalpur-Kolkata services this week.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav flagged off the inaugural flights on the new routes to expand regional air connectivity.

The route expansion is part of the government’s broader regional connectivity push, which has historically supported smaller carriers in launching thinner routes between tier-2 and tier-3 cities that larger airlines have found commercially unviable.

Passengers travelling on the new Bhopal-Patna and related routes can book tickets through Alliance Air’s official channels as well as major travel booking platforms.

Regional carriers like Alliance Air typically rely on lower operating costs and smaller aircraft to make thin routes financially viable, a model that has enabled steady growth in India’s regional air network over the past several years.

The Bhopal-Patna service is one of four new Alliance Air routes launched this week connecting Madhya Pradesh with other states, alongside Bhopal-Rewa, Rewa-Kolkata and Jabalpur-Kolkata.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav flagged off the inaugural flights on the new routes, part of a broader push to expand regional air connectivity across central and eastern India.

Officials said the direct Bhopal-Patna link is expected to benefit the large population from Bihar residing in Madhya Pradesh, as well as traders, businesspeople and other travellers moving between the two states.

Photo by Quintin Soloviev, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Akasa Air has debuted Akasa Elevate, its new loyalty programme, to mark the airline’s fourth anniversary of commercial operations.

Members can earn points on eligible flights and ancillary products and services, with passengers who have flown since April 1 this year able to join and claim points retrospectively.

Founder and CEO Vinay Dube said the programme reflects Akasa Air’s philosophy of putting customers first, calling the airline’s journey so far ‘extremely exciting.’

Dube said the loyalty programme launch is a natural extension of the carrier’s positioning as an ‘Experience-Led Carrier’ and a way of thanking its customers.

Akasa Elevate offers fast tier progression via eligible flights or spending, earnings on flights and ancillary products with extra rewards for direct bookings, and unlimited priority services as members climb tiers.

Akasa Air began commercial operations on August 7, 2022, and has since grown its domestic and international network, including routes to Gulf destinations such as Doha.

Akasa Air has positioned the loyalty programme as part of a broader push to deepen relationships with repeat customers as the airline’s route network and flight frequency have grown since its 2022 launch.

Akasa Air positions itself as an ‘Experience-Led Carrier,’ and Dube described the loyalty programme launch as a natural extension of that philosophy and a way of thanking customers.

The programme features fast tier progression based on either eligible flights or spending, earnings on flights and ancillary products, extra rewards for direct bookings, and unlimited priority services as members climb through membership tiers.

Akasa Air began commercial operations on August 7, 2022, and has since expanded its domestic and international network, including routes to Gulf destinations such as Doha.

The airline said its rapid growth over four years has been built on a young, all-Boeing 737 MAX fleet and a focus on operational reliability across its expanding route network.

Photo by Krish Aarush, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The India Meteorological Department has warned of heavy rain, strong winds and thunderstorms across Delhi-NCR, including Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad, as the monsoon reaches its seasonal peak.

Low-lying areas of the capital region are likely to face waterlogging as the active weather system moves through, according to the alert.

Thunderstorms combined with gusty winds of this nature have repeatedly caused flight delays and airline advisories at Indira Gandhi International Airport earlier this monsoon season.

The IMD also warned of landslide and flood risk in Kerala’s Wayanad hills due to continuous heavy rain, with coastal cities Kochi, Bengaluru and Mangalore expected to see winds of roughly 50 km/h.

Additional heavy rainfall alerts were issued for parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha.

Travellers flying through Delhi are advised to check flight status directly with their airline and build in extra time to reach the airport while the alert is in force.

The southwest monsoon typically remains active over North India through August and into early September, meaning further rounds of thunderstorm and heavy-rain alerts affecting Delhi-NCR flight operations remain likely in the coming weeks.

IGI Airport, one of India’s busiest, has repeatedly seen carriers such as IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet issue passenger advisories during comparable spells of monsoon thunderstorms and high winds earlier this season.

In Kerala, the IMD flagged landslide and flood risks for the Wayanad hills from continuous heavy rain, while Kochi, Bengaluru and Mangalore face coastal winds of around 50 km/h.

Uttar Pradesh cities including Lucknow, Kanpur and Gorakhpur, along with Bihar’s Patna, Gaya and Muzaffarpur, Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur, and West Bengal’s Kolkata and Siliguri were also placed under heavy rainfall alerts.

Airlines typically advise passengers to check flight status directly through official apps or websites and to allow extra travel time to the airport during active thunderstorm warnings, given the potential for air traffic control-driven delays.

Photo by Quintin Soloviev, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0