Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia has instructed officials of the Ministry to get in touch with the airline operators regarding air connectivity between Bhubaneswar and Dehradun.

Scindia in a letter to former MP Anang Udaya Singh Deo has said the demand for direct air connectivity between Bhubaneswar and Dehradun has been shared with all scheduled domestic airlines.

Singh Deo had requested Scindia to start direct flights between the capital cities of Odisha and Uttarkhand for benefit of tourists and devotees who visit Chardham and Jagannath Dham all the year round.

Scindia has said that with the repeal of the Air Corporation Act in March, 1994, the Indian domestic aviation was deregulated. Airlines are free to induct capacity with any aircraft type, free to select whatever markets and networks they wish to service and operate. It is, therefore, up to the airlines to provide air services to specific places upon the traffic demand and commercial viability, pointed out Scindia.

However taking into consideration the various aspects, he said the concern for direct flights between Dehradun and Bhubaneswar has been shared with the airlines operators. And necessary instructions have been issued to the concerned officials in this regard.

Scindia pointed out that Bhubaneswar and the Dehradun airports are owned by the Airports Authority of India. So far as the present connectivity is concerned, the Bhubaneswar airport is handling 442 aircrafts’ arrival and departure; and similarly, the Dehradun airport is handling 284 aircrafts’ movements per week.

While airlines like Air India, Alliance Air, Air Asia, Vistara and IndiGo are operating from Bhubaneswar, the Dehradun airport is handling airlines like Air India, Alliance Air, IndiGo, Spice Jet and Vistara.

Bhubaneswar is connecting cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Prayagraj, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ranchi, Jaipur, Varanasi and Jharsuguda.

Dehradun is connecting Ahemdabad, Prayagraj, Bangalore, Jaipur, Delhi, Mumbai, Varanasi, Pant Nagar and Lucknow.

Experts in airlines sector feel that direct flights between Bhubaneswar and Dehradun will be viable as there is a large flow of tourists and devotees to both the places of interest.

In the meantime, the Union Government has been favouring the idea to connect all the capital cities of the States with direct flights. So, Bhubaneswar and Dehradun direct flights will be much more helpful to connect East with the Himalayan gateway, which has huge potential of traffic, pointed out a former Odisha tourism official.