Air Odisha has commenced its intra-state flight services from Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar with its very first flight from Bhubaneswar to Sambalpur. The nine-seater Grand Cessna Caravan 208B left Bhubaneswar at 12.35pm and landed at the Jamadarpali airstrip in Sambalpur at 1.35pm on Monday. Flights to Rourkela via Jharsuguda and Jeypore has also started from Tuesday.
About Air Odisha Flight Services
Capacity: The company has a Cessna Caravan aircraft with a seating capacity of nine and two pilots.
Routes: The first flight will be for Sambalpur and it will return to Bhubaneswar via Jharsuguda. The second flight will connect Bhubaneswar to Jeypore. The third flight will link Rourkela to Bhubaneswar before returning via Jharsuguda.
Schedule: The flight services available six days a week except Sundays, which are reserved for maintenance of the aircraft. The flight service will start from 6.30am and end at 7pm.
Flight Duration: One way flights from Bhubaneswar to Sambalpur and Rourkela will take an hour each. The flight from Sambalpur to Jharsuguda will take 10 minutes. The journey from Bhubaneswar to Jeypore will take 90 minutes
Prices: The price of the tickets ranges from Rs 2,499 to Rs 5,500. Apart from the airport counter, passengers can also book tickets online. The charges would vary on the principle of first-come, first-serve basis. The airfare would be modified according to the market situation.
Last December, the director-general of civil aviation had given permission to private airlines to start intra-state commercial flights. The operator had also conducted a trial run the same month. An Air Odisha official said they have roped in around 25 employees, including one engineer, at each destination for ground operations.
Air Odisha promoter S.N. Pani said flights to Rourkela would take some time because of the lack of manpower at the air traffic control in Rourkela.
Source: The Telegraph
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