Welcome to this Air India Regional flight AI9805 from Delhi to Kulu in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh in the north west of the country in the footlhills of the Himalayas. This is the 5th flight of 8 on my India trip:
- MAN-LHR BA1402
- LHR-DEL- BA257
- DEL-JDH - AI476
- JDH-DEL - AI476
- DEL-KUU - AI9805
- KUU-DEL- AI9806
- DEL-LHR - BA256
- LHR-MAN - BA1402
There was a queue for check in which didn't last too long and the check in staff seemed polite and friendly.
We headed through the security checks smoothly and into the departure lounge. Our flight seemed to be on time today.
It was early and I hadn't yet had breakfast so I headed to the food court and to my favourite McDonalds!
This morning I ordered a Maharaja Mac, the Indian version of a Big Mac.
Soon enough our gate was announced and I headed off to Gate 42C
Gate 42C was a gate on the lower level which we would to use to board a bus to take us to the aircraft.
Here's our plane today. An ATR 72-600.
From the tarmac we had a good view of the other aircraft
We boarded via the rear stairs
and I took my window seat in 9A. The cabin was modern and the leg room plenty for this flight.
In the seat pocket was the safety card and a newpaper (unfortunately I couldn't read it!)
I would have a good view of the engines today.
After the safety briefing we were off. We were soon served with a small snack, not quite the full meal served on the full Air India Jodhpur flights. The sandwich was a kind of slightly spicy vegetable mix.
The flight was relatively short and soon we were making our decent into a deep valley were Kulu airport is situated. We came out of the clouds and were surrounded by mountains. This made for quite a dramatic scene with the mountains being above us and the valley bottom below. I couldn't help but take quite a few photos!
And touch down!
The airport is possibly the smallest I have visited, being just one small building with this flight one of only 2 that lands here.
The view of the plane in the valley was quite beautiful
Entering the terminal
and the baggage carousel
Leaving the airport
Hi Bobbie, KUU has been added to the database for you and your report updated to reflect destination KUU. Please feel free to use the "Contact Us" page to have airports, airlines, or lounges added in the future. Thanks for sharing this exotic FR!
You can trust Kevin on that one, Bobbie! No airport or airline is too big a job for him. Telling from my own experience! XD
Thank you for this FR! The approach is indeed very impressive.
You seem to have got a recent airplane, and the catering is what you would expect from such a short hop, I don't believe ATRs are equiped with ovens to provide hot meals.
Unrelated, but what's in the Indian Big Mac?
According to the description on the box it's two crusty cheese and corn patties!
Hello, Bobbie!
Airport? I thought the plane had landed in your backyard! LOL. KUU is a cute, litlle airport.
Cheese-corn patty? Hot jalapeños in your McDonald's hamburger? It all sounds like a parallel universe to me. I need to travel more!
Thanks for this report!! Kulu has been added to my must-visit-before-I-die wishlist. ^^
Haha thanks for reading! If only this was my backyard, there's some great scenary in the area and if you get some good weather there are some great views of the higher Himalaya peaks (watch out for the return trip!)
Thank you for this report.
What did you do there ? Wish you added some pictures of Kulu and the surrounding :)
I was there visiting a research institute close by. I'll post some of the pictures of the area for you on the return report ;)
Thanks for sharing this report with us ! DEL seems to be very modern and efficient. On board the catering is good for a short flight like yours. Great views on arrival.
Thanks for reading, yes DEL airport is large and modern with everything you'd expect to find in a modern airport. It seems they do suffer sometimes with the smog in Delhi and this can affect the punctuality sometimes. I was lucky on this leg, but did experience a few delays on some of the other flights
and yes : if you have any bonus pictures of KUlu don't hesitate to add them ;-)