Bhubaneswar-Dubai flight service to miss March 5 launch date!

Bhubaneswar: The direct flight service between Bhubaneswar and Dubai is likely to commence on the occasion of Utkal Diwas on April 1.

This was revealed by the Commerce and Transport department of Odisha today.

The direct flight service between Bhubaneswar and Dubai was scheduled to begin on the occasion of the birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik on March 5. However, the commencement of the direct flight service postponed to April 1 due to the ongoing reconstruction work at Terminal-2 of Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here, said an official of the Commerce and Transport department.

The Terminal-2 of BPIA has been designated for international flight operations. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) had initiated reconstruction work at the terminal a few months ago, added the official.

“We had expected that the reconstruction work would be completed by February-end. So, it had been decided to commence the flight service between Bhubaneswar and Dubai on March 5. Now, the AAI requires one more month to finish the reconstruction work. We are hopeful that the flight service will begin on April 1,” said the official.

The Indigo Airlines has expressed its readiness to commence the flight service between Bhubaneswar and Dubai on April 1, he added.

Notably, several outfits of non-resident Odias had urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to take steps for commencing direct flight service between Bhubaneswar and Dubai during the latter’s visit to the Middle East last year.

The state Cabinet headed by the Chief Minister on December 27 last year had approved the bid of Indigo Airlines to operate direct flights to Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok, sources said.

According to the bid proposal, a 186-seater flight will be operated from BPIA thrice a week. The state government will bear the expenditure of the flight operations and retain the revenue generated through ticketing, sources added.