BHUBANESWAR: The much-awaited flight service to Dubai from Bhubaneswar will be delayed further as the works on terminal 2 of Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) are yet to be completed. The flight operation was to commence on March 5 coinciding with the birth anniversary of former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik.
The old domestic terminal has been converted into terminal 2 to handle international flights. The terminal is being developed with an international standard makeover and additional facilities for arrival, departure, immigration and customs.
Terminal 1 from where domestic flights operate is linked with terminal 2. While the civil construction and interior works are nearing completion, the immigration and customs enclosures will be ready by the end of March. Earlier, it was expected that the redevelopment work would be completed by February end.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Odisha Tourism Conclave here on Thursday, BPIA director Prasanna Pradhan said terminal 2 will be ready in a month or two to handle passengers and it will have a passenger handling capacity of 0.5 million per annum.
On proposed international flights, he did not give a timeline but said the international operations will begin from BPIA very soon. Director (Sales - North and East India) of Indigo Airlines Sanjit Bhattacharya said international travel trends from Bhubaneswar have been more towards middle-eastern countries like Bahrain and Dubai.
“Indigo will begin a non-stop flight service to Dubai shortly. We and the government are just pondering on the date, but we should look at a timeline of the next three or four months for the direct operations to Dubai. We will look into the South East Asian countries after that,” he said.
Earlier, the low-cost airline operator, which had won the bid to operate direct flights to three important cities - Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok, had intimated to its travel partners that the maiden flight to Dubai would fly on March 5.
Utkela airstrip to be operational in next two months, says BPIA director
After Jeypore, Rourkela and Jharsuguda, flight service to Utkela in Kalahandi from Bhubaneswar under ‘Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik’ (UDAN) scheme will begin within the next one or two months, said the director of the Biju Patnaik International Airport Prasanna Pradhan at the 5th Odisha Tourism Conclave here on Thursday.
Pradhan said the flight to Kalahandi will also connect the state capital to Raipur in Chhattisgarh. “Currently, the Bhubaneswar airport is connected to 22 destinations in India and has emerged as one of the better-performing airports in the country. Last month, flight service to Jamshedpur was started from the airport,” he said.
The BPIA director informed that non-scheduled operations to Rangeilunda near Gopalpur will begin on March 5 and two more airports are coming up at Malkangiri and Amarda in Mayurbhanj. On the status of the proposed airport at Puri, he said an obstacle limitation survey and land acquisition have been completed. “The project is in the pipeline and soon there may be good news,” he said.
Addressing the conclave, HRAO chairman JK Mohanty urged MP Sujeet Kumar to take up several issues with the Centre like providing domestic flight connectivity from Bhubaneswar to Bodh Gaya, Pune, Udaipur and Ahmedabad.