BHUBANESWAR: People of western Odisha can now directly fly to Mumbai and Bengaluru as flight service to the two metros would start from the Veer Surendra Sai (VSS) Airport, Jharsuguda from January 12. The two flights will be operated by SpiceJet four days a week. The flight from Mumbai will reach Jharsuguda on Tuesday at 12.30 pm and depart for Bengaluru at 1 pm. A flight from Bengaluru will arrive at Jharsuguda at 5.40 pm and leave for Mumbai at 6.10 pm on the same day.
While the flights from Mumbai will reach VSS at 11.10 am on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, they would leave for Bengaluru at 11.40 am. Similarly, flights from Bengaluru will reach VSS at 4.40 pm and leave for Mumbai at 5.10 pm on these three days. At present, six scheduled flights are operating regularly from VSS airport. Two flights between VSS and Kolkata and one flight each from Jharsuguda to Bhubaneswar, Delhi, Hyderabad and Raipur are operating daily.
Appreciating the SpiceJet for the service, Ministry of Civil Aviation Joint Secretary Usha Padhee said, “This is expected to boost the economy of western Odisha and help in fulfilling the aspirations of people in the region.” VSS Airport Director Kishore Kumar Senapati said there was a huge demand for starting flight operations from Jharsuguda to Mumbai and Bengaluru.
“Earlier, a flight was operating from Jharsuguda to Bengaluru via Bhubaneswar. There is a huge demand among the travellers and the direct flight is expected to receive a good response,” he added. The VSS Airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 22, 2018.