Bhubaneswar: The Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar will start operation of direct international flights from May.
Speaking to media persons in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, BPIA director Prasanna Pradhan said as per the agreement signed with the state government, the flight operator IndiGo will operate the scheduled direct flights to Singapore, Dubai and Bangkok.
Pradhan said in order to facilitate operation of international flights, the ongoing renovation of old terminal building will be completed by March. After this, there will be trial runs of international aircraft and finally the flight services will begin in May, he added.
As per the agreement, IndiGo would operate 186-seater direct flights from the Bhubaneswar airport to Dubai, Singapore, and Bangkok. The entire cost of direct flight operations from Bhubaneswar to these overseas locations would be covered by the government. In its place, the government will keep the revenue from ticket sales.
The Odisha cabinet had given its approval to the plan to operate these flights on December 28 last year. In November last year, the government had invited requests for quotation (RFQ) to select the airlines that can operate the direct international flights from Bhubaneswar.
At present, there is no direct flight service from Bhubaneswar international airport to any foreign destination. International travellers continue to depend on Kolkata or Delhi to reach their destination.
While the flights between Bhubaneswar and Kuala Lumpur, introduced by AirAsia in 2017, were suspended just before the COVID pandemic, those between Bhubaneswar and Bangkok were discontinued in 2019 after a year of service.
