Taj balloon fest from November 25, 40 winners to get free ride

Tourism department officials here on Wednesday said a total of 16 hot air balloons, with highly-experienced pilots and crew from India and around the world would be participating in it. The festival includes both free flights and tethered flights. A total of 12 countries are participating. There will be balloonists from the US, UK, Spain, Germany, UAE among others piloting the flights. 

Meanwhile, tourism department will conduct a lucky draw every day and choose 40 recipients who will get free one hour aerial ride. Last year, both locals and tourists were charged over Rs 10,000 for the one-hour ride. A fixed quota for foreign tourists, five out of 40, has also been kept aside. 

Officials of the Sky Waltz, who will organise the flights, said here that this year the festival is being organised at a grander scale. The number of days has been doubled from three to six this year. The visibility is also much better this time around, so tourists will have better view of the Taj. Last year, visibility was an issue due to heavy smog. 

This year there would be an option of commercial flights and that would depend on the demand and the availability of seats in balloons. The capacity of each balloon ranges from 1 to 8 people. The balloons will take off in the morning from six sites near the Taj. The sites will be outside the 500-meter heritage periphery as mandated by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). 

Moreover, there will be tethered flights at the PAC ground in the evenings which will also be free. The hot air balloon festival was being organised to promote aviation-based and adventure sports for the tourists in and around the city.