New Delhi: The Union Civil Aviation Ministry Thursday denied of having any plan to extend the visa-on-arrival facility at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar.
In its response to the Lower House of the Parliament, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said, “There is no proposal for extending the visa-on-arrival facility at Biju Patnaik International Airport at present.”
The minister was replying to a question asked by Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Rabindra Kumar Jena regarding ministry’s plan to extend visa-on-arrival facility at Bhubaneswar airport.
The Balasore MP also asked the ministry whether they are planning to start direct flights from Bhubaneswar to Sri Lanka, Dubai and other countries. He also sought details if there is any plan to relax the norms relating to bilateral rights for foreign airlines, so that they can operate direct flights to Dubai from the International Airport at Bhubaneswar.
To this, Sinha said, “Airlines of foreign countries can only operate to the points of call in the agreed bilateral rights. Bhubaneswar is not available as a point of call to the carriers of Dubai.”
The minister further said that Bhubaneswar is amongst the 18 tourist destinations of India from where Indian carriers can operate unlimited number of flights to points in all SAARC (except Pakistan and Afghanistan) and ASEAN countries and reciprocally the designated carriers of these countries can also operate unlimited number of flights to and from Bhubaneswar.
“However, the commencement of operation from any airport depends upon the commercial judgement, route viability and availability of aircraft and other resources. Currently designated carriers of Thailand and Malaysia are operating to and from Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar,” Sinha added.
