ALLIANCE AIR(Regional wing of air India)
In this trip I will be taking one of Alliance air's ATR from Chennai to Madurai.Alliance air is the regional wing of India's national carrier Air India and they operate with fleet of ATR 42 and ATR 72. Today I took the metro to reach the Airport and it was very easy to reach the terminal. They have a dedicated subway and departure entry for passengers coming through metro. Absolutely no queues!!!!
Check In
This was Christmas week but terminal looked less crowded. Not much decorations inside the airport except a few, security was a breeze due to less crowd.
Using my card I accessed TSA lounge inside Domestic Arrival. Lounge was decent with decent amount of foods and desserts available. Interior decors were cozy didn't test the free wifi though. It was little crowded during peak hours it might be too crowded.
Food in lounge
Boarding was from the lower gate through bus and surprisingly started 45mins before time. But in the end 18 connection passengers came late so in the end departed on scheduled time.
Alliance Air AI 551
Chennai (MAA) - Madurai (IXM)
Depart: 04:55PM
Arrive: 06:10PM
Duration: 1hr15Mins
Aircraft: ATR 72-600
Seat: 1A (Economy Class)
Registration: VT-RKD
Date: 23-12-2019
The Seat
Once onboard, I settled into my seat near the window in front row emergency exit. Seats are standard ATR type but the red leather seats looked more posh.
The seatback had no IFE's and the seat pocket had Safety card and magazine. We pushed back on-time despite few passengers coming late. We departed from south side towards marina beach then via pondicherry,Trichy and finally madurai.
Weather was calm and it was clear. Dissapointed with dirty windows though, unable to take any clear pics.
MEAL
Service started 15mins after departure, as in other Air India snacks is complimentary in alliance air too but don't expect much. They provided a veg puffs and water bottle , veg puffs didn't have any fillings to my liking. But it was only a short hop so no issues.
Landing
Landing in madurai is just straight forward and it was smooth and on time.
Check out my youtube video too!!!!
Nice report. I share your pain about prop windows--IME props tend to have dirty or scratched up windows, which is always a pain for taking aerial pics.
Thanks for sharing!