The Indian Air Force (IAF) will put up a mega air show in the Sangam area in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj on October 8 on the occasion of their 91st foundation day. Group Captain Prajyot announced on Tuesday that 120 fighter and transport aircraft including the Rafale fighter jets and helicopters from 10 air bases will be a part of the air display on this occasion. For the last time MiG-21 would be participating in such a show, and new ones like C-295 transport aircraft will join in, according to ANI.
Interestingly, two vintage aircraft -- Harvard and Tigermoth -- will operate in Luv and Kush formation at Sangam. Also, C-295 aircraft will fly in Sugreev formation.
The air show is likely to be attended by President Draupadi Murmu.
Air Marshal RGK Kapoor said on Monday, that this year the 91st Air Force Day will be celebrated in Prayagraj. Earlier this used to be held in Hindon in Ghaziabad and only people from Delhi and surrounding area could attend. But the Sangam confluence area is very large and many more people can attend the show.
Kapoor said Prayagraj was chosen for the event for several reasons, including the presence of the Central Air Command in the city.
“For the first time in the country, an aircraft took off from Naini in Prayagraj in 1911. Prayagraj is the centre of India and Indian time is taken from Prayagraj. Furthermore, Central Air Command is headquartered at Prayagraj and Sangam. For these reasons Prayagraj was chosen for the air show.”
“This (Sangam area of Prayagraj) is an ideal venue for any air show where a large number of people can watch the air show on both sides of the river,” he said.
‘No Fly Zone’
The flights from different places to Prayagraj have been cancelled from October 3 to 8, as the Bamrauli Air Station has been declared a ‘no flying zone’.
Authorities have already cancelled flights from Indore, Raipur, Lucknow and Dehradun while 76 other flights would be cancelled between the given dates.
Although the main event is on October 8, flight operations at Prayagraj airport will remain affected from October 2 itself. On October 6, there will be a full-dress rehearsal of the event. Indigo has released information about the cancellation of 76 flights during this period. Apart from this, timings of flights, operated by Alliance Air, have been changed and will be delayed by one hour.
According to the official release, Prayagraj-Dehradun, Prayagraj-Indore, Prayagraj-Raipur, Prayagraj-Lucknow will remain cancelled for seven consecutive days. Likewise, Prayagraj-Bengaluru service will also remain cancelled on October 3, 5 and 8 and will operate only on October 2, 4, 6 and 7. Prayagraj-Bhopal flight will also remain cancelled on October 3, 5 and 7 and will operate on the rest of the intervening days.