As many as 44 specially-abled children, including 20 girls, enjoyed flying high in a special Alliance Air flight here on Wednesday morning.
The Capital Region Urban Transport (CRUT) carried the children by two buses to the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA).
On Sunday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation had tweeted about the arrangement, “Wings to the dreams of Divyang children! 44 Divyang children from across Odisha will experience the joy of flying high aboard a special flight from Bhubaneswar on January 22. Commendations to Airports Authority of India (AAI), Air India, Alliance Air, Odisha Government and Swabhiman for making this happen.”
The special flight took off from the BPIA at 9 am returned after a 40-minute tour.
This is for the first time that the underprivileged children experienced plane ride.
Ministry of Civil Aviation Joint Secretary Usha Padhee has extended her gratitude to the AAI for waiving all charges for the special flight.
Notably, the Alliance Air is a regional airline and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Air India. The Swabhiman is a State-level organisation working towards empowering persons with disabilities.