Bhubaneswar: The direct flight service between Rourkela and Kolkata which was scheduled  to begin today was cancelled due to technical problem in the flight.

The direct flight connecting Odisha's Steel City and West Bengal's capital was to  depart from Rourkela at 3.50 pm on Tuesday. It was to arrive at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose international airport in Kolkata at 5.20 pm.

However, the Kolkata-Rourkela flight which was to arrive at 12.30 pm did not take off from Kolkata due to technical issues in the flight.

The flight has been cancelled due to technical issues in the flight and it could not be made flight-ready by scheduled time leading to cancellation, an airport official said.

The 32 passengers who had booked tickets for the flight were refunded.

There is an adage 'morning shows the day '. If the flight is cancelled on the inaugural day itself, then you can very well predict what's in store for future, an infuriated passenger expressed.

Worth mentioning, Odisha government facilitated the air connectivity operated by Alliance Air from Rourkela to Kolkata to boost industries and tourism in Sundargarh district.

"This will reduce the travel time to 1.30 hours. The Rourkela-Kolkata route will be a State-sponsored route, with the State Government providing Viability Gap Funding for 35 seats of the capacity with fare cap," the CMO stated in a release.

The Alliance Air will provide the flight service thrice a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The inaugural one-way fare starts from Rs 1999.

As per the schedule, a new ATR-72 flight will take off from Kolkata at 11 am and reach Rourkela at 12.30 pm.

Earlier, Rourkela-Bhubaneswar flight had started before the Men's Hockey World Cup this year. After the demand grew for Rourkela-Kolkata flight services, it started from November 1 via Bhubaneswar.

With operation of direct flight service between Rourkela and Kolkata, the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar flight timing has been revised.

As per the revised schedule, the ATR-72 flight for Bhubaneswar will depart from Rourkela at 12.55 pm and reach Bhubaneswar at 2 pm. It will take off from Bhubaneswar at 2.30 pm and reach Rourkela at 3.10 pm.