For the first time, over a dozen of Chief Executives of international airlines will be meeting on January 22 at Bhubaneswar to discuss about enhancing air connectivity to and from Odisha.
With the Ministry of Civil Aviation having decided to hold a meeting with CEOs of major airlines here to discuss about Odisha’s aviation potential, at least 15 major airlines authorities are landing up in the State capital to have brainstorming over the issue.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will meet all these CEOs. International airlines like Air Asia, Singapore Airlines, Srilankan Airlines, Scoot Air, Druk Air, Bangkok Airlines, Novo Air, Regent Airways, Fly Dubai, Emirates, Thai Airways, and several others are likely to send their CEOs here.
These airlines are based in Singapore, Malaysia, UAE, Bangaldesh, Srilanka, Bhutan Bangkok and countries of South East Asia.
This will be a major meeting of CEOs, which will be attended by Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy, who is taking up issues with Secretary MoCA, Pradeep Singh Kharola.
Secretary, Commerce and Transport, Pramod Kumar Meherda and Special Secretary Manoj Mishra will be coordinating the conclave.
Union Civil Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola had taken up the matter with major airlines as Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri asked the Ministry officials to arrange such a conclave after getting a letter from Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who sought operation of more international flights from the State.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has taken an approach of ensuring optimum connectivity in each and every State, and similar steps are being taken for Odisha, said sources in the MoCA.
Sources said earlier Chief Minister Patnaik wrote a letter to the Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and invited him as well as the CEOs of major airlines for an exposure trip to
Odisha.
In his letter, Patnaik had also mentioned that the State would also consider incentives in the form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) for the airline operations.
The State Government had earlier provided incentive to Air Asia and was inclined for similar sops.
Chief Minister Patnaik will make more fresh announcements in the CEO meet, which is expected to deliberate on UDAN Domestic and UDAN International operations.
Odisha is getting ready for more airports like Jeypore and Rourkela for which UDAN operations will be successful for these airports.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which took up infrastructure development and operations of Jharsuguda Airport, will be helping the State in preparing smooth passage for both Jeypore and Rourkela airstrips, officials said.