Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will launch the advance ticket booking service for direct flights to Singapore and Bangkok from Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.
After Dubai, IndiGo airlines will begin the much-awaited direct flight services from the Odisha capital to Singapore and Bangkok on June 3. The flights to these destinations will be operated twice a week on Tuesday and Saturday, sources said.
The bi-weekly Bhubaneswar-Singapore flight will take off from BPIA at 6.25 am and land in Singapore at 1.05 pm. The return flight is at 2.10 pm and it will arrive in Bhubaneswar at 3.50 pm. Similarly, the Bhubaneswar-Bangkok flight will leave at 4.50 pm and reach Bangkok at 9.10 pm. The return flight is at 10.10 pm and it will arrive here at 11.15 pm, a tweet posted by CMO Odisha said, adding that there is an introductory offer of Rs 15,000 for the round trip to make the fare affordable.
The state capital was directly connected to Dubai by air from May 15 with IndiGo’s Airbus-320 operating from here thrice a week. The CM had launch the ticket sale of the flight on Utkal Diwas that is April 1.
These flights are expected to give a huge boost to tourism in Odisha and open gateway to Southeast Asian countries.
On December 27 last year, the Odisha cabinet approved the bid of IndiGo airlines, which had evinced interest in operating direct flights to Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok following a request for quotation from the state government.
According to the bid proposal, a 186-seater flight will be operated from BPIA thrice a week including the weekends and the expenditure towards flight operation will be borne by the state government. In lieu, the revenue generated through ticketing will be retained by the state government.
The government has earmarked Rs 120 crore to help operate these flights and hopes to reach break-even within a year.
Notably, Air Asia had started flight service to Bangkok in December 2018 but it was suspended a year later (September 2019) without citing any reason. Only 55-85% seats were then being booked on these flights operating thrice a week.
