Air India will operate a direct flight from Hubballi to Mumbai beginning next month. According to the post on the Facebook account of Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, the flights will operate on every Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from January 20.

It will leave Mumbai at 9.25 am and reach Hubballi at 10.25 am. In the return direction, the flight will leave Hubballi at 11 in the morning and reach Mumbai at 12 noon.

Though Indigo and Air India are already operating flights from Hubballi to Mumbai, they halt at Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Chennai.

However, when contacted, the local officer of Air India told DH that there had been no official information about the operation of the direct flight.