Shimla, April 7 -- Director, tourism and civil aviation Vivek Bhatia on Monday here said that government of Himachal has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Alliance Air Ltd. to operate daily scheduled flights on the Delhi-Shimla and Shimla-Dharamshala routes. He said that the move was aimed at boosting tourism and strengthening regional air connectivity, creating a direct air link between the national capital, the state capital and Dharamshala. He said that the services would be operated using an ATR 42-600 aircraft with 48 seats. The commercial operations were likely to start in the last week of April. He said that both routes would be operated on 100% Viability Gap Funding (VGF), with the entire cost borne by the state government as Grant-in-Aid to Alliance Air. Total annual VGF outgo was pegged at Rs.32.64 crore based on actual billing. The MoU is valid for 12 months from the date of commencement of operations. Bhatia further said that this MoU would create a direct air link between the National Capital and Shimla, while also connecting Shimla with Dharamshala intra-state and is a significant step for tourism and accessibility in the state....