Jharsuguda: Flight services from Veer Surendra Sai airport at Jharsuguda, Odisha’s second airport are poised to take off again under the third phase of ‘Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik’ (UDAN) scheme.
Moreover, SpiceJet is likely start operations on three major routes- Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad from March 31, informed Jharsuguda airport director SK Chouhan today. A safety audit team of SpiceJet today inspected the facilities and other arrangements at Jharsuguda airport.
“The SpiceJet team will submit a report to its management and we hope that they will start flight operations from March 31,” said Chouhan.
Chouhan further informed that the Union Civil Avian Ministry had identified the three routes under the Regional Connectivity Scheme – RCS Udan. “We in touch with the authorities of Alliance Air as well and hopefully they will also start flight operations from Jharsuguda soon,” he added.
Recently, the Jharsuguda Airport, which has been renamed as the Veer Surendra Sai Airport (VSSA), was in the media troll for non-operation of flights following its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi September 22.
Earlier, the NRIs living the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also stepped up their efforts meeting Patnaik and presenting a memorandum in this regard last month.
Later, fed up with the negligence of Air Odisha, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) had cancelled licence of the low cost carrier November 19 for its irregular flight services under UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik).
As per reports, Air Odisha was not regularly operating its flight services under the UDAN scheme citing various reasons, including technical glitches. The Air Odisha, which had obtained licence under the UDAN scheme, could fly only 30 per cent flights while 70 per cent of its flights never operated.
So, the AAI had cancelled the licence. This had raised uncertainty over the liability of Jharsuguda airport. With this, flight service to all eastern regions, including Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand had been suspended. Similarly, Air Odisha flights from Bhubaneswar to Raipur and from Raipur to Jagdalpur had also been cancelled.
However, the news of resumption of the flight services has come as good news for the people here. They welcomed the move and thanked the Chief Minister for taking swift action.
Notably, the Jharsuguda airport was flagged off by Prime Minister Modi September 22. Built at an investment of Rs 210 crore, the airport is expected to play a major role in the development of Odisha tourism and hotel industries.
PNN
