14 new flights planned for better air link to Odisha

BHUBANESWAR:  A total of 14 new flights are planned to several national and international destinations to improve connectivity with Odisha. Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy said the new flights to and from Odisha have been planned after holding discussions with the Ministry of Civil Aviation.“The flight between Bhubaneswar and Bengaluru (Air India), which commenced on January 20, was also the outcome of the meetings held in New Delhi in the last one month,” Tripathy said on the sidelines of a high-level meeting here on Wednesday on ‘Enhancing Air Connectivity for Odisha’.

The Chief Secretary also said that Bhubaneswar-Surat flight (operated by Air India) commenced from January 20, while Kolkata-Jharsuguda flight (Alliance Air) will start from Wednesday, Bhubaneswar-Varanasi flight (Alliance Air) will start from January 31, Varanasi-Bhubaneswar flight (IndiGo) will start from February 29 and Jharsuguda-Mumbai flight (SpiceJet) will start by the end of winter schedule this year.

Similarly, Prayagraj-Bhubaneswar flight (IndiGo) will start from July 1,  Delhi-Bhubaneswar flight (AirAsia) is expected to commence operation during the upcoming summer schedule, Bhubaneswar-Rourkela (Alliance Air) flight will likely start by May and flight operation between Bhubaneswar and Kalaikunda by Alliance Air is also expected to start during the summer schedule. The winter schedule will continue till March 27, while the summer schedule will commence from March 28, sources said.“We have declared not to charge VAT on fuel from airlines operating international flights,” Tripathy said.

“It has been decided to provide aviation fuel at 1 per cent VAT to domestic airlines starting operations on new routes, which are not viable,” he added. The COO of five airlines and senior officials of 16 airlines attended the meeting, Tripathy said. Discussions were also held to enhance flight operations in interior Odisha airports like Jeypore, Rourkela and Utkela. This apart, the officials also discussed starting flight operations from the State to various cities like Jaipur, Pune, Kochi, Allahabad (Prayagraj) and Northeast.

“One of the major agendas of the meeting was to discuss the policies to start flight operations from Bhubaneswar to Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Abu Dhabi or Dubai. The interaction will be held with the airlines to understand what kind of collaboration would they want from the State Government to start operations between the city and these destinations and accordingly, policies will be framed,” Tripathy said.

Union Civil Aviation Secretary P S Kharola described aviation as the new engine of economic growth. He pointed out that while there is only 17 per cent growth in aviation nationally, Bhubaneswar has seen 29 per cent cumulative growth. Civil Aviation Joint Secretary Usha Padhee made a presentation on the UDAN scheme and said Bhubaneswar will be provided viability gap funding under UDAN.