Air Asia, GoAir to start flights from Odisha
With the Biju Patnaik Airport (BBI), Bhubaneswar in Odisha having received international status, GoAir and Air Asia will soon start operations on the domestic and international routes, respectively.
India’s domestic airline, GoAir will start domestic operations from Bhubaneswar to Bengaluru and Mumbai in May. AirAsia is also expected to start international operations in March from Bhubaneswar to Kuala Lumpur.
After having been accorded the international status, the Biju Patnaik Airport sought to increase international operations. Sharad Kumar, Director, Biju Patnaik International Airport, held a meeting on January 20, 2014 at the regional headquarter in Kolkata, where representatives from 10 airlines converged.
“This meeting focussed on the inclination of airlines to start flights to Bhubaneswar, discuss flight schedules, among others. flydubai, Air Costa, Silk Air, Air Arabia among others have shown interest in starting flights to the airport, however flydubai is waiting for government approval on traffic rights. These new flights are expected to commence from April 1, this year,” said Kumar.
“We want to market our airport. Thus, I made a presentation on the day of the meeting where we showcased our infrastructure. This type of an interaction with the airlines is a long process, where multiple agencies are involved,” he added.
SpiceJet, Thai Airways and Silk Air have even showed interest to fly to this airport in near future, he said. “We expect six domestic airlines and two international airlines to commence flights to this air-
flydubai, Air Costa, Silk Air, Air Arabia among others have shown interest in starting flights to the airport
Sharad Kumar
Director, Biju Patnaik International Airport
port in 2014. Jet Airways also plans to resume flights in summer, this year. The VAT on the Air Turbine Fuel has even been decreased from 20 per cent to 5 per cent to attract more business.