Barely two months after it started its operation, the Air Odisha Aviation Pvt ltd has decided to ground its aircrafts from Monday as the State Government is not paying the subsidy and rebate on aviation turbine fuel (ATF).
On Saturday, the airline stopped it services to Sambalpur and Rourkela. It would stop flights to Jeypore on Sunday and will ground its crafts totally on Monday.
Air Odisha Operations Manager Jospeh Nayak said, “Since we are not getting the subsidy from the Government, we have decided to withdraw our services.”
The nine-seater planes had started their flights from the airport here to four cities, Jharsuguda, Rourkela, Sambalpur and Jeypore, on January 19. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had flagged off the service.
The private carrier had stopped its services to Jharsuguda three days after it began its operations on January 22 following an instruction of the Airports Authority of
India (AAI) as runway repair work was underway there.
According to sources, the airline was getting subsidy from the State Government on the basis of nautical miles it flies in a month. The price was fixed at Rs 222 per nautical miles with a cap on total subsidy of Rs 8 crore annually.