[Watch] Odisha woman pilot greets fliers from UAE in Odia on occasion of Raja

Bhubaneswar: Overseas stranded migrants from Odisha who were eagerly waiting to make their way back to home state on a special flight in the UAE amid COVID-19 pandemic, were overwhelmed when they heard a voice of a woman pilot welcoming them in Odia language on the auspicious occasion of Raja festival.

Aji Apana Mananku Raja ra Abhinandan (Best wishes to all of you on occasion of Raja). Mu Captain Madhusmita Apanamananku Air Arabia ra special flight to swagat karuchi (I Captain Madhusmita is welcoming you all to the special flight of Air Arabia)…This was the announcement made by woman pilot from Odisha that exhilarated the spirits of the stranded passengers onboard Air Arabia before the flight took off this morning.

The air passengers equipped with face shields and face masks as part of protection against spread of novel coronavirus will surely miss their trip after the flight departed for Bhubaneswar from Sharjah.

The passengers onboard welcomed her speech with claps as she started with extending ‘Raja’ wishes to all of them.

“It’s my honour to fly you all back to your families on this auspicious day,” Patnaik said in her address.

She ended the announcement wishing ‘Jay Jagannath’ to the passengers and in response, all of them said it out loud too.

Captain Madhusmita Patnaik, a native of Bhubaneswar and current resident of Dubai, took off a special chartered plane carrying 215 stranded Odias from Sharjah at 8.00 am today. The 13th evacuation flight under Vande Bharat Mission, landed at 2.07 pm at Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar. The arrival of flight was scheduled at 1.30 pm in the State capital.

{Watch announcement video}

In a video message at Air Arabia office in the UAE just before departure to Odisha, Captain Patnaik said, “It is a proud moment for us to take our State people on a special flight by Air Arabia to Bhubaneswar from Sharjah. The Odia Society here has helped us for the mission. The organisation has also extended help to Odia brothers and sisters, who were in distress after being stranded here during pandemic situation. I am thankful to Odia Society that made efforts to send them back to home land. I hope that similar kind of arrangements will be made in future to send remaining people back to their respective homes.”

The young and dynamic woman pilot has been working with the Air Arabia in past 5 years. Earlier, she was flying flights of different airlines in India. She was pilot of leading airlines including GoAir, Kingfisher and Air Deccan.

Worth mentioning, the flight was arranged by the Odia Society in UAE under Vande Bharat Mission, India’s mammoth repatriation exercise, in consultation with the Consulate General of India to the UAE, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), UAE Government and Air Arabia, to evacuate Odia people stranded in different parts of Emirates due to international travel restrictions for COVID-19 pandemic.