Rourkela: There is good news for Steel City flyers as they will soon get direct flight connectivity to the City of Joy from September 1. After state capital Bhubaneswar, this is the second connectivity from Rourkela Airport and first to a city outside Odisha. There will be direct flights between Rourkela and Kolkata on four days – Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday – every week as disclosed by a top official of Alliance Air who did not want to be named. It will fly from Kolkata to Rourkela at 11.40 hours and land here at 13.10 hours. After halting here for twenty minutes, it will then fly to Bhubaneswar and will make a comeback flight at 14.30 hours.
On the other hand, the plane will leave Rourkela at 15.30 hours after flying from Bhubaneswar and then after twenty minutes’ stoppage, it will fly back to Kolkata and reach there at 17.45 hours. With this four-day arrangement, Rourkela passengers will fly to Bhubaneswar two hours before at 14.30 hours. And on the rest of the days — Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday — the flight will follow the existing schedule to Bhubaneswar and leave Rourkela at 16.00 hours. Reacting to this Bibhuti Biswal, a regular flyer said, “This is good news for us because we will start the day fresh at Kolkata because when we travel by train we are groggy. Now at least we will get a night’s sleep there and then start the day.” Sunil Kayal, president of Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industries (RCCI) said, “at last a concerted effort by all has paid the dividend and we now have a direct flight to Kolkata as this will do world of good for business.” Professor Rajib Panda, a faculty of marketing at NIT Rourkela said, “this is good for all. It will help us in furthering our placement activity because corporate will come here and go back in a day which is a big advantage for them.” And former All India General Secretary of Steel Executive Federation of India (SEFI) and also the secretary of NITRA, the alumni association of NIT Rourkela Bimal Bisi, who was relentlessly pressing for the Kolkatta connectivity said, “I am thankful to Alliance Air and all those who actually kept on putting pressure for this connectivity. There will be a good time for Rourkela ahead.”