Rourkela: Alliance Air (AA) will start flight services to Kolkata from Odisha’s Rourkela under the Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme from September 1, according to the Union Civil Aviation Ministry.
According to sources, the airline will modify the flight schedule of its ATR-72 aircraft, currently operating on Rourkela-Bhubaneswar route, to cater to Rourkela-Kolkata route. While the normal operation of the ATR-72 of AA on Rourkela-Bhubaneswar route would continue for seven days in a week, the ATR-72 is likely to operate between Rourkela and Kolkata via Bhubaneswar on three days in a week. The flight duration between Rourkela and Kolkata will be of around 1 hour 30 minutes.
The flight will depart from Kolkata at 11.40 am and land at Rourkela at 1.10 pm. It will take off from Bhubaneswar at 1.35 pm and arrive at 2.30 pm. After a 25 minutes halt, the aircraft will depart from Bhubaneswar at 2.55 pm, reach Rourkela at 3.50 pm. It will then leave Rourkela at 4.15 pm and reach Kolkata at 5.45pm where it will halt for the night.
In the opposite direction, the aircraft will depart from Kolkata at 1.10 pm and reach Bhubaneswar at 2.40 pm. It will then fly from Bhubaneswar at 3.05 pm and arrive in Rourkela at 4 pm. It will then depart from Rourkela at 4.25 pm and reach Bhubaneswar at 5.20 pm and fly back to Kolkata at 5.45 pm and reach there at 7.15 pm for night halt.
The only ATR-72 of the AA, which operates daily now, has a hectic schedule of at least eight long journeys originating from Kolkata to Aizawl, return to Kolkata and then flies to Jharsuguda. From Jharsuguda it goes to Bhubaneswar and then to Rourkela. From Rourkela it reaches Bhubaneswar and returns to Jharsuguda for taking the last flight of the day to Kolkata.
In January, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had flagged off the Bhubaneswar-Rourkela flight from the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) while Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurated the event over the virtual mode. Alliance Air’s 72-seater aircraft then operated daily between Bhubaneswar and the Steel City from January 12 ahead of the Men’s Hockey World Cup, making it the fourth place in the state with air connectivity with Bhubaneswar.
Earlier in December 2022, Scindiahad announced in Parliament that in the fourth round of special bidding under RCS-UDAN the Big Charters was appointed as the Selected Airline Operation (SAO) for the Rourkela-Kolkata route and it would fly a 19-seater aircraft from February.
