Rourkela: Alliance Air flights between Kolkata-Rourkela-Kolkata may begin from Wednesday, sources said Tuesday. However, officials of the airline company in Rourkela stated that the chances of flights operating from Wednesday are remote.
Initially, Alliance Air was scheduled to start Kolkata flights from September, but it was cancelled for reasons best known to the company. Even though there are apprehensions about Rourkela-Kolkata flights operating from Wednesday, the selling of tickets has begun. Five tickets have been sold online for Wednesday’s flight and another five across the counter.
When contacted, Alliance Air CEO Vineet Sood informed, “We are going to operate regular flights to Kolkata in two weeks time. However, I don’t think tomorrow (Wednesday) it will be possible.” However, despite his disclosure, the Alliance Air website showed that flight tickets were available for November 1 to Kolkata.
Alliance Air officials pointed out that the airline company has been asked to operate its Kolkata flight at 5:00pm in the evening. They said that during winter it is difficult to operate flights at 5:00pm as it is quite dark and landing and taking off becomes quite difficult at the airport in Rourkela.
The decision by Alliance Air to start flights from here to Kolkata has been welcomed by the people of this city. “This is good news because it will help in the growth of the city, president of the Rourkela Bikash Manch, Suman Dutta said.
Dutta however, criticised the concerned officials for the delay in installation of the instrument landing system (ILS) at the airport here. “The delay in installation of the ILS is the main reason for flights getting cancelled from this city. It will cost only Rs8 crore, but no one is taking the initiative to get the work done,” pointed out Dutta.
Meanwhile, the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Alliance Air flight was cancelled Tuesday putting 50 passengers in a lot of discomfort.
PNN