Mumbai, Sep 17 (IANS) Air India will start operations from Chennai to Agatti in the Lakshadweep islands six days a week from September 24.

The new flight, part of the airline's efforts to provide connectivity to lesser accessible stations, will make Agatti the 64th destination on its domestic network.

"On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the ATR flight IC 7501/7502 will operate on the route Chennai-Kochi-Agatti-Kochi-Chennai and on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays the airline will operate flight IC 7503/7504 on the route Chennai-Bangalore-Agatti-Bangalore-Chennai," said an AI spokesperson here Friday.

Flight IC7501 will leave Chennai at 8:30 am and arrive at Kochi at 10 am, leave Kochi at 10:30 am to reach Agatti at 12 noon. The return flight IC7502 will depart from Agatti at 12:30 pm and reach Kochi at 2 pm, leave Kochi at 2:30 pm and reach Chennai at 4 pm.

Flight IC7503 on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday will leave Chennai at 8:30 am and land at Bangalore at 9:30 am. It will leave Bangalore at 10 am and reach Agatti at 12 noon. On the return leg, flight IC7504 will leave Agatti at 12:30 pm, reach Bangalore at 2:30 pm and depart from Bangalore at 3:35 pm to reach Chennai at 4:35 pm.

"The operation of the service will on this sector will give a major boost to tourism promotion to the scenic islands. Passengers travelling from Delhi and Mumbai to Agatti will get same day connections in both directions at Bangalore," the spokesperson said.

The airline is also upgrading services to the Tier 2 cities by providing jet aircraft instead of earlier turbo prop services, the spokesperson added.