BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to expand air connectivity within Odisha, the state government has decided to allow airline operators to start intra-state operations for individual routes or a set of connected routes.
Odisha has 26 airports/airstrips, including one international and five private and commercial each. Besides, two more are coming up at Dhamra and Puri. While commercial flight services have already been started from Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Jeypore and Rangeilunda (non-scheduled) apart from Bhubaneswar, such services are likely to commence at Utkela and Malkangiri soon.
Apart from operational airports, there are at least 20 served, un-served and underserved airports in the state in addition to numerous helipads. The Commerce and Transport department has sought proposals from aircraft operators in order to connect at least 10 airports amongst themselves and with the state capital.
The airports that are likely to start intra-state operations are Amarda Road in Mayurbhanj, Barbil in Keonjhar, Gudari in Kandhamal, Hirakud in Sambalpur, Tusra in Balangir, Nawapara in Nuapada, Padampur in Bargarh, Raisuan in Keonjhar, Dandbose in Mayurbhanj and Malkangiri. Barring Amarda Road, rest of the airstrips are being maintained by the state government.
A senior official of the Transport department said proposals have been sought for category IA and category I fixed wing aircraft. While category-1A has the seating capacity of nine, category-1 has seating capacity of nine to 20 passengers.
“Eligible scheduled or non-scheduled airline operators can apply for operation of category-1A and category-1 fixed wing aircraft for individual routes or for a set of connected routes. The state government will provide fixed viability gap fund (VGF) support for making the airports operational,” he said.
Sources said, operators can submit network proposals for connecting a minimum of three and up to a maximum of seven distinct airports in a single day, through a network. They will have to ensure that all routes in a network are connected using the same aircraft type through the same number of flights per week. It is mandatory for the operators to operate a minimum two flights in a week with VGF support from the same airport. In order to avoid inconvenience to passengers, the airline operators will have to follow relevant rules of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) informing the passengers about changes in the schedule of flight operation, in advance.
“The VGF support will be fixed based on the actual number of flights operated by the selected airline operator,” the official added. The direct connectivity to Dubai, Bangkok and Singapore is now being covered under VGF along with the air services from Rourkela and Jharsuguda.