No flights from Jharsuguda airport in past week under UDAN

Jharsuguda: The recently inaugurated Veer Surendra Sai Airport (VSSA) at Jharsuguda has disappointed people of western Odisha with no operation of flights under UDAN scheme in the past one week.

Even three weeks after inauguration of Odisha’s second major airport, hardly the air passengers got the flight services to other destinations from the city.

After inauguration, the DGCA had released a schedule for flight operation from the airport in Jharsuguda. However, the air passengers are still waiting to get services.

As per the schedule, the flight services to Bhubaneswar, Raipur and Ranchi from Jharsuguda were to be operated six days in a week excluding Sunday.

The regular schedule for flight operation commenced from September 24.

Reports said that not a single flight by Air Odisha has been operated in the past seven days. Rather, the airport has turned into a point of amusement for public.

The flight operations have been halted due to technical glitches, a source in Air Odisha said.

The flight services will be resumed after getting notification from the DGCA about winter flight schedule. The operation will probably start from Monday, he said.

Notably, the VSSA was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 22 under UDAN (Udega Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme. Built in an investment of Rs 210 crore, the airport was expected to play a major role in development in sectors of Odisha Tourism and hotel industries.

However, the irregular flight services from the airport raised doubt on its long run operations in future.

Also read: After inauguration, ‘uncertainty’ looms over flight operations at Jharsuguda airport