Air Odisha likely to launch flights under UDAN scheme from November

Bhubaneswar/Mumbai: Air Odisha is likely to launch its flight services under the UDAN scheme from November-end. In the first phase it will operate from Ahmedabad to Bhavanagar, Jamnagar, Diu and Mundra, said sources.

Earlier in March, Air Odisha had bagged approval to operate on 50 routes under the central-government's subsidised Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme. However, it is awaiting the Scheduled Commuter Operator (SCO) permit from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which will qualify it to launch regional services.

"We are ready to launch services from November end. To begin with, we will launch flights from Ahmedabad to Bhavnagr, Jamnagar, Diu and Mundra. However, we have not yet obtained the SCO permit, which is still being processed by the DGCA," said an official source.

In the second phase, Air Odisha plans to roll out services from Delhi and then from Chenani in the subsequent month, the source said.

As per the schedule, the air operator will commence services from New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and Chenani to various under-served and un-served airports across Odisha, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry.
Un-served airports are the ones, where there is no flight, whereas the under-served airports have been categorised as the ones, which have three or less flights per week.

According to the source, Air Odisha may now ask for four slots -- two departures and two arrivals -- from the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) at the Delhi airport instead of six demanded earlier.

"We have also decided to drop Meethapur airport in Gujarat from our schedule for the time being as the aerodrome is still not ready for operations," the source added.

Air Odisha had earlier said that as many as eight of the 26 airports, from where it had to launch regional flights were not ready for operations as some work was still going on at those aerodromes.

Air Odisha is one of the five air operators, who won bids for flying on 128 routes connecting 70 airports under UDAN scheme, which seeks to provide air connectivity to the un-served airports as well as enhance flight operations to under-served airports.

Under the scheme, the operators were given six months time to commence operations.