Bhubaneswar: There might be a month’s delay in the commencement of the direct international flight service to Dubai from Bhubaneswar.
If sources are to be believed direct Bhubaneswar-Dubai Indigo flight is likely to start on April 1, which is celebrated as Utkal Diwas, instead of March 5 as was reported earlier. The reason: Delay in completion of Terminal 2 at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here.
Director (Sales), Indigo, Sanjit Bhattacharya, however, told a national daily that it will take 3 to 4 months to start Bhubaneswar-Dubai nonstop flight.
The low-cost airline operator had recently won the bid to operate direct flights to three important cities – Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok. As per the bid proposal, a 186-seater flight would fly from BPIA thrice a week, including the weekends, and the expenditure towards flight operation would be borne by the Odisha government. In lieu, the revenue generated through ticketing will be retained by the state government.
On February 11, Indigo had intimated to its travel partners that a flight (6E 0028) from Dubai would leave at 11.25 am and arrive in Bhubaneswar at 5.05 pm on March 5, the birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik. The maiden international flight (6E 0027) from Bhubaneswar to Dubai was to take off from Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) at 6.05 pm and arrive in Dubai at 9.45 pm on the same day.
It had then released a schedule for two days.
