Bhawanipatna: In what could be another boost to regional connectivity in the State, flight operations are likely to commence soon from Utkela airport in Kalahandi district of Odisha.

As per reports, the State government had written to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) regarding final review of safety guidelines and other protocols at the airport. Subsequently, a team led by DGCA's regional deputy director, Chief Aviation Security Officer (CASO), nodal authorities of Airports Authority of India (AAI) and CISF visited the airstrip four days back and assessed the facilities and other safety benchmarks in presence of officials of the Works department. Official sources said the team expressed satisfaction and if everything goes well, flight services are likely to start from the airport very soon.

In March, a five-member team of DGCA from Delhi and Bhubaneswar had visited the airport for an inspection and reviewed proposals of flight connectivity between the State Capital and Bhawanipatna.

Last week, Kalahandi MP Basant Panda had sought a reply from the Civil Aviation Minister regarding issue of license to the he 2-B Category Utkela Airport in response to which the latter had reportedly informed that two licenses had already been issued.