Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jul 27:

The Air Odisha Aviation Pvt Ltd (AOAPL), with whom the state government had terminated agreement for intra-state air service, has decided to start inter-state flight service from August 15, reports said.

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The company has obtained the permission of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to commence flight services from Bhubaneswar to three cities-- Ranchi, Raipur and Nagpur, reports added.

As there are no direct flight services from Bhubaneswar to these three cities, the initiative of Air Odisha would be fruitful, said firm's chief Santosh Pani.

As a part of preparations for the service, two nine-seater charter planes have been kept at the hanger of Biju Patnaik International Airport here, sources said.

"Before launching the service, we will do advertising in the three cities. From August first week, marketing for Air Odisha in these cities will be done and we are preparing plans to attract more passengers," an official of the company said.

"We will not start flight services from any airstrip under the control of Odisha government. The services will be provided only from airstrips under the control of DGCA," the official added.

Notably, the state government had terminated its Air Services Operation Agreement (AOA) with AOAPL earlier this year. The intra-state airline was operating a nine-seater aircraft between Bhubaneswar and the three major commercial centres of Sambalpur, Jharsuguda and Rourkela.

It may be recalled here that a top executive of ITCL Ireland Ltd, Steven Nixon on May 3 had lodged a complaint with the state government at the General Administration department against AOAPL alleging monetary fraud by the air service operator. Nixon had claimed that AOAPL had obtained aircrafts on contract from the company and Rs 2.5 crore is due on them.