Some airlines have evinced interest to start their services from Bhubaneswar on both domestic and international circuits. They include the Fly Dubai, Thai Airways, Air Arabia and SpiceJet.
An interactive meet with major domestic and international airlines was held in New Delhi on Tuesday, presided over by State Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra. The meet was held with an objective to invite airlines to commence their international operations from and to Bhubaneswar connecting South Asia, Southeast Asia and Middle East countries.
The meeting was attended by senior officials of the Government of India including Chairman, Airports Authority of India VP Agarwal, Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra, former Director, International Civil Aviation Organisation Vivek Pattanayak and Director, Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar Sarad Kumar.
Senior executives of many airlines including Fly Dubai, Air Asia, IndiGo, SpiceJet, Go Air and Thai Airways also participated in the meeting.
State Principal Resident Commissioner in Delhi Dr Bhargava stated that the State’s economic development and growth of domestic and international tourist traffic have been constrained largely due to a deficit in the aviation infrastructure, inadequate national air links and absence of international connectivity.
It was stated that Odisha has developed an Aviation Vision Document for development of aviation and has set timeframes for achieving different milestones in the civil aviation sector.
CS Mohapatra assured the airlines that the State would provide all possible assistance to enable them to effectively organise their international operations from and to Bhubaneswar.
It was stated that in a bid to attract more airlines to operate from Bhubaneswar, the State Government is planning to slash sales tax on jet fuel from 23 per cent to five per cent soon.
The IndiGo representatives expressed their intention to increase the frequency of their domestic flights. The SpiceJet assured that it would start operating from and to Bhubaneswar very shortly.
The representatives of the Fly Dubai and Air Arabia sought assistance from the State for getting permission from the Government of India to commence international operations as the existing bilateral rights do not permit addition to their operations.