BHUBANESWAR: A direct flight between Bhubaneswar and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh will commence soon, said the officials of Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here on Monday.
IndiGo will operate flights between the two cities everyday starting February 29. The ticket booking has already commenced, a BPIA official said. The flight will depart from BPIA at 9 pm and land at Varanasi by 10.55 pm. While the flight will depart from Varanasi at 6.45 pm and land here at 8.40 pm.
The announcement comes on a day when maiden flight from Bhubaneswar to Surat departed from BPIA at 8.40 am. Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi, who had earlier requested the Centre to start a direct flight between the two cities, was one of the first passengers to board the Air India plane from BPIA to Gujarat.
"About six to eight lakh natives of Odisha are staying in Surat. People from my constituency are also staying in Surat in significant numbers. It was a longstanding demand of the passengers to start a direct flight between the two cities as train journey takes about 30 hours," Sarangi said.
"I came to know in the morning that all the economy class tickets from Bhubaneswar to Surat and return have been sold out. This shows the demand for the flight service between the two cities," she added.