Vikash Sharma

Bhubaneswar: In what could be good news for air travelers, scheduled flight services from the newly-inaugurated Jharsuguda airport could begin as early as the first week of January 2019. Veer Surendra Sai Airport director, Sudesh Chouhan, in an exclusive interview to OTV, informed that the third phase bidding for the same is already underway.

“The bidding process is on and once the tenders are opened on December 31, we hope that flight services will resume after the first week of January, 2019,” said Chouhan adding that instead of smaller aircrafts, Boeing aircrafts will operate from the airport.

It is pertinent to mention here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the Jharsuguda airport in September 22. However, in an unfortunate turn of events, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry in November cancelled the license of Air Odisha, which was operating flight from Jharsuguda airport to Raipur, on charges of irregularities.

Once the fresh tender process is complete, regular flight services will resume from Jharsuguda airport and as per the survey conducted by the airport authorities, New Delhi remains the most preferred destination among the air travelers from Western Odisha.

Apart from New Delhi, Kolkata, Raipur and Bhubaneswar are also the other preferred destinations.

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