Cabinet nod to IndiGo bid for 3 int’l flights

Bhubaneswar: The state cabinet meeting, chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik, on Tuesday approved the financial bid of IndiGo for the operation of direct flights from Bhubaneswar to Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok. The move is likely to see the start of international flight connectivity from Bhubaneswar in the next one and a half months.
Naveen had promised a direct flight between Bhubaneswar and Dubai during a Make In Odisha road show in the UAE in June.
“We recently floated a tender for selection of airlines for the direct flight operations. lndiGo’s financial bid has been approved by the cabinet. IndiGo will operate a 186-seater flight on the three international routes from Bhubaneswar in one or one and a half months. The state government will bear the operational cost of the flight operations. The revenue generated through ticketing will be retained by state government,” chief secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra said.
According to the government, it has already reduced the value added tax (VAT) on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to 0% for direct international flights. Sources said Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok may have three flights a week preferably on alternate days, including on the weekends. The government said the direct international flights would give wings to tourism, industry and IT sectors in the state.
“There is a potential of unlocking not only the tourism sector, but also industrial, including the IT sector, if Bhubaneswar sees direct connectivity with Dubai in the west, Singapore and Bangkok in the east. Dubai and Singapore being two large air hubs, it virtually opens up the entire world to the passengers of Odisha and also for Odias settled abroad,” another government official said.
AirAsia had introduced flights between Bhubaneswar and Kuala Lumpur in April 2017 on a hub and spoke model. However, the services were suspended after the pandemic struck in March 2020. It’s flight operation between Bhubaneswar and Bangkok was discontinued in 2019 following its launch in December 2018.