Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will inaugurate the ticket booking for Bhubaneswar-Dubai direct flight on the occasion of Utkal Diwas on Saturday.
According to official sources, the direct flight services on the route, which were scheduled to commence from March 5 to mark the occasion of the birth anniversary of legendary leader Biju Patnaik, would take off on May 15.
The direct flight connection with the Arabian city, which has been demanded by people of Odisha and non-resident Odias in Dubai since long, was initially postponed to April 1 due to delay in completion of Terminal 2 at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar. The Terminal-2 of BPIA has been designated for international flight operations.
Indigo recently won the bid to operate direct flights to three important cities – Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok – from Bhubaneswar. Director (Sales), Indigo, Sanjit Bhattacharya, however, had said it will take 3 to 4 months to start Bhubaneswar-Dubai non-stop flight.
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) would take off from Dubai at 11.25 am and land at Bhubaneswar at 5.05 pm on March 5. The maiden international flight (6E 0027) from Bhubaneswar to Dubai was to take off from BPIA at 6.05 pm and land at Dubai at 9.45 pm on the same day.
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