Senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik on Sunday pooh-poohed different assertions of the ruling BJD and the BJP vis-à-vis international air travel facility available at the city airport and claimed that it was a contribution of the Congress-led UPA Government.“It is a surprise the BJD is trying to exploit the situation for petty political gains. It is equally intriguing that BJP is unnecessarily creating hype over the event. The plan to connect Bhubaneswar to international circuit was conceived by the UPA Government and the new terminal was its contribution. Though late, international flight implementation is a welcome development,” Patnaik said in a statement.
He said the aviation sector follows a spoke and hub model around the world. Such a model firstly protects the domestic sector and secondly protects the interest of the country. “If other countries do not agree to allow our airlines to fly to their regional airports, why India should be extra generous under populist pressureIJ The airlines sector has suffered a bit in the last decade because of decisions taken for political purposes,” he pointed out, adding, “The BJD shows no understanding of the structure of the airlines industry and is trying to exploit the situation for petty political gains.”
He said the long haul flights between international hubs are much larger and it may not be commercially viable for any airline to send those large aircrafts for transferring 35 passengers to the international flights. While UK does not allow our flights to land anywhere other than Heathrow, Germany allows Frankfurt only, UAE Dubai and the Nederlands allows Amsterdam, India should follow the spoke and hub model rather than end up damaging its domestic sector under populist political pressure, said Patnaik.
He suggested that efforts be taken to ask other airlines to follow the Air India so that all passengers flying to international destination from or to Bhubaneswar can do their immigration check at Bhubaneswar and be transferred to the respective long haul flights in the international sector.
He also suggested that the facility of international transfer should be extended from Delhi to other hubs such as Mumbai and Kolkata.Pattnaik said the State Government should refrain from doing silly politics over the indirect international flight operations and work to advance the interest of air passengers and the State.