Bhubaneswar: In good news for flyers in the state, local carrier Air Odisha will start its operations from Bhubaneswar to Kalahandi district from May 1.
The private air service operator conducted a trial run on Saturday ahead of the formal launch of the service.
According to Air Odisha sources, a nine-seater plane with Junagarh MLA Captain Dibya Shankar Mishra and founder of Air Odisha Santosh Pani on its board, took off from Bhubaneswar and landed at Utkela air strip in Kalahandi district successfully.
A large crowd gathered around the air strip to witness the trial run of the local carrier.
The carrier is already flying to Sambalpur, Rourkela, Jharsuguda and Jeypore from here
Notably on January 19, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had flagged off the intra-state flight from Biju Patnaik International Airport. The government is running the intra-state air service in collaboration with Air Odisha and has agreed to provide subsidy to the carrier on the basis of nautical miles covered by it in a month.