Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu virtually inaugurated Fly91 flight operations at Vijayawada Airport on Friday, marking the start of scheduled services between Vijayawada and Hyderabad. The launch was attended by Andhra Pradesh Minister for Mines and Geology Kollu Ravindra, airport officials and representatives of the new carrier. Officials said the first service establishes direct connectivity on the route and that the airline intends to introduce further services in phases. Lakshmi Kantha Reddy, director of Vijayawada Airport, expressed pride at the commencement of operations and noted the role of the airport in enabling the new connection. The airport leadership welcomed the inauguration by the minister and highlighted the importance of regional links for passenger mobility. The carrier's chief revenue officer indicated that the infrastructure and supportive policies encourage airlines to expand from two and three tier cities and identified Hyderabad as the next focus for growth. State minister Kollu Ravindra said the new service will be followed by plans to link Vijayawada with Shirdi and Varanasi, subject to regulatory clearances and market demand. Officials described the launch as part of a broader effort to strengthen regional air connectivity and bring more destinations within reach of travellers. The airline is expected to roll out additional sectors in phases as it builds a network serving secondary and tertiary cities. The Civil Aviation Ministry supported measures to manage aviation turbine fuel pricing and said calibrated decisions were taken to address cost pressures while maintaining service continuity. The ministry noted that aviation turbine fuel has been deregulated since 2001 and that global energy disruptions and regional shipping constraints had threatened a steep rise of over 100 per cent from one April. It added that state oil marketing companies, in consultation with the ministry, implemented a partial staggered increase of 25 per cent, equivalent to Rs 15 per litre, for domestic airlines while leaving international routes to bear full market aligned prices. Officials said the combined measures seek to balance operator viability and passenger affordability.