PIONEER NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
All tickets for helicopter services to Kedarnath Dham were booked within two hours of the start of online booking on Tuesday, the additional chief executive officer of the Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Development Authority (UCADA) Dayanand Saraswati said. The online booking window opened at 12 PM on April 8 and under the first phase, tickets were available for the period from May 2 to May 31.
The helicopter services to Kedarnath will operate from Guptkashi, Sirsi and Phata starting on May 2, aligning with the opening of the shrine. The Gangotri and Yamunotri Dham are scheduled to open on April 30, while Kedarnath Dham will open on May 2. Helicopter services commence each year with the opening of Kedarnath. Several users reported that the website was slow within a few hours after the booking started at noon on Tuesday.
However, Saraswati stated that the system was functioning properly. “There was no technical issue with the website. All tickets were booked quickly due to high demand across the country. 1,250 tickets were available per day for the first phase and all were booked within two hours. Bookings will reopen later for the next phases,” he said. This year, the fare for helicopter services has been increased by five per cent. The new fares are Rs 6,061 for a round trip from Sirsi to Kedarnath, Rs 6,063 from Phata to Kedarnath and Rs 8,533 from Guptkashi to Kedarnath.
Authorities have also advised that devotees must complete their travel registration before booking helicopter tickets. As of 5 PM on April 8, a total of 14,81,471 devotees had registered online for the Char Dham and Hemkund Sahib Yatra through the official portal and the Tourist Care Uttarakhand mobile app. The registrations include 2,52,768 for Yamunotri, 2,66,223 for Gangotri, 4,99,454 for Kedarnath, 4,42,496 for Badrinath and 20,530 for Hemkund Sahib. The 24×7 toll-free helpline (0135-1364) handled 12,807 queries from pilgrims, as per the officials.
