Bhubaneswar: Ahead of commencement of commercial services, the first trial flight of IndiaOne Air, the new wings of Bharat, was conducted between Bhubaneswar and Jeypore on Wednesday morning.
According to sources, the flight took off from Terminal-2 of Biju Patnaik International Airport at 10.15 am and landed at Jeypore around 11.35 am. There were, however, no passengers onboard. “Only aircraft staffers and some state government employees boarded the first flight of IndiaOne Air,” Director of the Bhubaneswar airport Prasanna Pradhan told mediapersons.
IndiaOne Air, a regional airline based in Ahmedabad, was launched last month after it received clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in June. The CEO of the regional airline, Arun Kumar Singh, had then announced flight services between Bhubaneswar-Jeypore and Visakhapatnam-Jeypore under the UDAN scheme.
“The first flight will fly directly from Bhubaneswar to Jeypore and Jeypore to Visakhapatnam. After stabilisation of operations, we will commence services from Utkela,” he had said, adding that the rates will be like the AC 2nd-tier or will be lower than that. “Initially, we will come up with some promotional schemes and the passengers can enjoy air travel within Rs 500-1000. However, the ticket rates depend on inflation, so I can’t quote the price right now. But, the price will be affordable for all,” he added.
IndiaOne Air is the first scheduled airline in India to operate a single-engine aircraft. The airline aims to connect tier 2 & 3 cities with metropolitan cities and provide safe, efficient, cost-effective, and on-time services. It has nine pax seats with a maximum speed limit of 350 kmph.
