Bhubaneswar: As many as 215 Odias, stranded in the UAE owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, are set to return to Odisha Sunday.
Adding icing to the cake, the pilot who will fly them home is none other than Captain Madhusmita Pattnaik, an Odia working with Air Arabia.
Captain Pattnaik will fly a special chartered flight from Sharjah to Bhubaneswar. The plane is scheduled to take off 8 am (UAE time) Sunday and reach the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar in the afternoon.
“Many people will finally be able to return to Odisha all because of help from Odia Society in Dubai. The special direct flight will leave at 8 am UAE time,” said Captain Pattnaik.
The Odia Society in Dubai, led by Dr Chandra Sekhar Khuntia, sought help from the Indian Embassy in UAE, the UAE government and India’s External Affairs Ministry to arrange a chartered flight to repatriate the stranded Odias.
PNN