Bhubaneswar: Union Minister of State (MoS) for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha who was in city Sunday spoke at large about the central assistance to Odisha in civil aviation sector.
The MoS also commented about the hassles the citizens face relating to parking in the city airport. He told the press that such parking related complaints have often came before him through social networking sites and other platforms.
He said, “I have often received such complaints. We have decided that now the private vehicles entering the airport premises in the city will not be charged for drops and pick ups while the commercial cars will also be exempted for drops,”
The minister also said that his ministry is also working to expand the capacity of the Bhubaneswar airport and the total passenger handling capacity of the city airport would soon be increased from the current 30 lakh passengers to 90 lakh passengers annually.
He said, “We have decided to interlink the existing terminals and also build a new terminal T3 which will be ready soon,” but the minister also asked the state government to support the centre through land acquisition and other formalities.
The minister discussed the issues with Jharsuguda airport. He said, “Unfortunately there was some issues with Air Odisha but now we have taken stock of the situation and we have held talks with the Spicejet. They have now decided to come over board and start operations from Jharsuguda airport under the Udaan scheme.” The minister boasted about the scheme and said that now the connectivity of western Odisha would soon get impetus and it will ensure its connectivity with other important cities of the country.
The minister also said that Spicejet had undertaken successful moves to operate flights in other routes under the Udaan scheme and expressed satisfaction that it can serve Odisha too.