BHUBANESWAR: The first airport in the state to be developed and operated by the Odisha government in the southern district of Malkangiri is set to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in January.
The farthest district of the state will be connected with scheduled flights soon. The chief minister will land at Malkangiri Airport and inaugurate it in early January, special secretary to the CM, Vineel Krishna, announced on social media platform X on Monday.
Sources said, the state government will provide subsidy to the airlines in a bid to provide air tickets to the passengers at affordable prices. The flight operations are initially expected to commence between Malkangiri and Bhubaneswar. The government also plans flights between Malkangiri and Visakhapatnam, said sources.
Though Malkangiri Airport is not equipped with any advanced technology, it will have ‘landing T’, a tool to provide information to aircraft from the ground indicating the direction in which they should land, and a windsock to give the pilot a quick reference wind direction and speed.
Sources said the airport’s runway will be 1,500 metre in length and 30 metre in width. It will handle small aircrafts like Koraput. The state has six operational airports and Malkangiri’s addition will take the number to seven.