Rourkela: The first direct flight from Kolkata arrived here Tuesday amid much fanfare. The Alliance Air flight was given a water cannon welcome when it arrived at the airport here around 2.00 pm. The Kolkata-RourkelaBhubaneswar-Rourkela-Kolkata flight will operate every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, informed Alliance Air manager here Rahul Singh. However, even though the flight arrived here and left for Bhubaneswar, the final leg of the journey (BhubaneswarRourkela- Kolkata) was abandoned due to various reasons.
In its maiden flight from Kolkata to here, the aircraft had 33 passengers and when it left for Bhubaneswar, 44 people were on board. The flight arrived after two hours and 30 minutes delay, but people did not seem to mind. However, there are still doubts as to whether the flights will happen seamlessly. This is because of the position of the airport here and other climatic issues. The airport has poor visibility as it is situated close to a hill range and due to early sunsets. Hence pilots are apprehensive about bringing the aircraft to the airport in the latter part of the day. The delay in arrival and landing at the airport here was due to low visibility.
Officials pointed out that until the Instrument Landing System (ILS) is installed at the airport, problems will plague flight services. They said that at present landings at the airport take place with staff trained in visual flight rule (VFR) using the approach control system. However, even then the VFR is not the safest operational procedure. In case a pilot feels that the aircraft and the passengers are at risk, he/she can always abort the landing.
