Bhubaneswar: After the success of international operations from Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here, Kuala Lumpur-based AirAsia has decided to launch domestic air operations from city airport to Bangalore and Kolkata August 1.
According to the airline officials, the Malaysian carrier will have two flights each to Bangalore and Kolkata. The airline, which started international operations to Kuala Lumpur in April this year, is getting a good response from the state.
Currently, the airline is having four weekly international flights (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday) to Kuala Lumpur from Bhubaneswar. In fact, this airline was selected for international operations through competitive bidding by the state government.
Significantly, AirAsia is the only airline to use the domestic as well as the international terminal of BPIA. The domestic operation of the airline will be from Terminal 1.
With the launch of domestic operations, AirAsia will become a major operator from BPIA offering domestic and international connectivity. Currently, four airlines (Air India, IndiGo, GoAir and Vistara) are providing domestic connectivity from the city airport.
According to the airline schedule, evening flight to Kolkata and morning flight to Bangalore would start from August 1. These flights will be available Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Similarly, the evening flight to Bangalore will also start its operations August 1 and it will be available only Tuesday. However, the morning flight to Kolkata will start operation August 2 and will be available only Wednesday.
When contacted, BPIA director SC Hota confirmed the airline’s plan for domestic operations.
“AirAsia airline will start its operations from August 1 onwards. We are also working to bring in more airlines to operate from the city airport,” said the airport
director.
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