BHUBANESWAR: Bhubaneswar will have direct air connectivity to five more cities of the country from the start of the new year.
Director of Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) Prasanna Pradhan said, flight operations will connect Indore, Dehradun, Lucknow, Jaipur and Kochi.
IndiGo will start flights to Indore and Dehradun four days and thrice a week respectively from January 1. The flights for Indore and Dehradun are expected to depart from BPIA at 3 pm, he said.
Similarly, Air India Express will commence flight operations to Lucknow and Jaipur thrice a week and to Kochi everyday from January 3.
With the addition of the new destinations, BPIA will have direct flight operations to 34 cities including four international locations. On an average, 49 flights are currently arriving and departing from BPIA everyday with a passenger footfall of around 7,000. Apart from the new flight operations, BPIA officials have also planned to launch early morning flight services to Bengaluru due to high demand. An IndiGo flight is expected to arrive at Bhubaneswar by 12.20 am and leave for Bengaluru by 6.15 am from January 4.
Meanwhile, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi met Civil Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu in New Delhi on Thursday and requested him to start flight operations to Jammu, Surat and Visakhapatnam. She also urged the minister to sanction the construction of Terminal-3 at BPIA.