First flight from Jharsuguda to land in Odisha capital on Sept 22

Bhubaneswar: The maiden flight from Jharsuguda will land at Biju Patnaik International Airport BPIA) in Bhubaneswar on inaugural day of Odisha’s second major airport.

Along with flagging off Jharsuguda airport on September 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Jharsuguda-Bhubaneswar flight services by Air Odisha under the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN (Udega Desh ka Aam Nagrik).

As the International Air Transport Association (IATA) airport code is yet to be issued to Jharsuguda airport, the flight tickets on Jharsuguda-Bhubaneswar route could not be booked at this moment.

Sources said that the functional issue will be met soon ahead of the operationalisation of the airport.

However, the much awaited airport has received International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) code that will be used for official purposes like air traffic control and location of airport.

The flight by Air Odisha is likely to depart from Bhubaneswar at 7.00 am and arrive at Jharsuguda at 7.50 pm. The timing for flight operation on the route between Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda is expected to be finalised by DGCA in a week.

After operationalisation of Bhubaneswar-Jharsuguda-Raipur flight services, Air Asia is planning to launch flight services from Jharsuguda to Ranchi. The flight is likely to be operated on the route by end of September or first week of October under UDAN scheme, an official in Air Odisha said.