Kosal Discussion and Development Forum

Air link to Rourkela by the end of April

April 26, 2012 at 4:50 am sanjibkarmee Leave a comment

Following is a report from the Telegraph:

Bhubaneswar, April 25: The much-anticipated private chartered flight service from the Odisha capital will be launched by the end of this month.

Bangalore-based Door-to-Door Service (DTDS) has announced the operation of a chartered flight between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela from April 30.

This service would be available thrice a week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The DTDS officials said the flight service would be extended to Jamshedpur and Calcutta.

The nine-seater flight would take off from Bhubaneswar at 2pm and reach Rourkela in an hour. From there, the journey to Jamshedpur would take 45 minutes, before making its way to Calcutta — its final destination — the scheduled arrival time being 5pm.

On way back, the flight would take off from Calcutta at 7.30am, land in Jamshedpur at 8.30am and then reach Rourkela at 9.15am. After a gap of 15 minutes, the flight would then take an hour to reach Bhubaneswar at 10.30am.

However, passengers would have to cough up Rs 6,990 to travel between Bhubaneswar and Rourkela and Rs 7,890 between Bhubaneswar and Jamshedpur.

Excited over the introduction of flight service, executive of a nationalised bank Barada Prasanna Das said: “Now, the journey time would come down by almost eight hours. But, I hope this service is not discontinued. The entire western Odisha would benefit from the air service.”

Capital-based tour operator Benjamin Simon said: “It would certainly provide better connectivity. However, the company should chalk out a plan to reduce the fare amount, so that the common people can also avail the service.” The company is planning to start air service between Hirakud and Barbil.

In another development, the state government has called for a meeting of prospective international flight operators next month to obtain their willingness to operate flights between Bhubaneswar and different international locations.

Chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik said the government had asked the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation to organise a national-level workshop.

“It would involve the Union ministries of civil aviation and home, Air India and private airlines for showcasing Odisha’s perspectives and opportunities in international flight operations,” he said.

Significantly, the transformation of Biju Patnaik Airport in Bhubaneswar to an international airport has gathered momentum. Airport officials informed the government that the construction of the terminal for international air service was on in full swing.

Entry filed under: Flight service to Rourkela, Infrastructure, Region watch, Sundergarh.