VARANASI, Mar 27: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated Spicejet's Gorakhpur-Varanasi flight on Sunday via video. The new service under the Udan scheme is expected to boost tourism and pilgrimage. The flight will be operated with Boeing 737s and Bombardier Q400s aircraft.

The low-cost, no-frills airline has also launched six more new flights including those on the Hyderabad-Puducherry-Hyderabad, Varanasi-Kanpur-Varanasi and Varanasi-Patna sectors under the regional connectivity scheme, it said in a statement. The airline has also launched eight industry-first flights including those on Jaipur-Dharamshala and Tirupati-Shirdi sectors, the statement said.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said that with this nine airports are operational in the State. "At present, nine airports are functioning in the State. Four years ago, just four airports in the state were connected to mere 25 destinations. Now flights for 75 destinations across the country are available from the state," he said.

"It is the first time that connectivity between two important cities - the land of Baba Gorakhnath with the land of Baba Vishwanath - has been created via air route," he said.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia participated in the function from Gwalior.

The Spicejet flight, a 78-seater, covers the distance between Gorakhpur and Varanasi in 25 minutes.

Gorakhpur is the home district as well as the Assembly constituency of Adityanath while Varanasi is the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Adityanath was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh last week for a second consecutive term.