Bhubaneswar: Soon after the state government agreed to provide financial support to AirAsia, the private airlines, Thursday, began flight services connecting Bhubaneswar, Pune and Kolkata.
AirAsia had been in talks with the state government for a long time and had planned to connect Pune and Bhubaneswar to boost air connectivity of the state. With its launch, AirAsia became the only airline to offer non-stop flights between Pune and the state capital.
Speaking on its launch, a senior official of AirAsia said, “We are delighted to announce the launch of new flights connecting Bhubaneswar, Pune and Kolkata. The flights are scheduled to ease the convenience of flying with our fly-thru service, enabling a connection between Kolkata and Pune. We have been working with the state government and enhancing our relationship by ferrying migrants back to Odisha from different parts of the country.”
It can be mentioned here that AirAsia began its operations in 2017, in Odisha, and now connects to all four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. The Chief Minister Office, Tuesday, had stated that the flight connectivity is being made available keeping in mind boosting air connectivity to Odisha which will improve state’s tourism sector and attract more investors.
Earlier, Spice Jet had started services from the Veer Surendra Sai airport, Jharsuguda, to Mumbai and Bangalore.
With this, a total of 31 flights will be operating at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA). While AirAsia will have four flights running from the BPIA, Vistara has three, Air India four, Alliance Air one, Go Air three and Indigo 15 operating from the city airport.
PNN