Bhubaneswar, Oct. 2: Three new flights have started operating from Biju Patnaik International Airport, which started working round the clock since yesterday.
With this development, the airport authorities expect different airlines to make use of the facility to park their aircraft at the airport and provide better connectivity to different metros.
Low-cost carrier IndiGo is operating all the three new flights that are providing connections from the city to Bangalore, Calcutta and New Delhi.
The night flight from Bangalore will reach Bhubaneswar at 11.20pm and depart at 11.50pm.
Airport director R. Mahalingam said the flight would benefit travellers wanting to reach Bhubaneswar late at night after completing a day's work in Bangalore and vice-versa. Fares will be comparatively cheaper for the late night flight, he said.
Abhisek Kar, 30, a software professional working in Bangalore, who is on leave in Bhubaneswar, said: "Better air connectivity from Bhubaneswar to Bangalore helps professionals like us who do not want to spend 36 hours travelling by train."
The flight from Calcutta will reach the city at 10.05pm and depart at 5.55am. Mahalingam said the flight would be beneficial for people who want to visit Calcutta on business trips and return the same day.
"Early flights are aimed at attracting passengers who regularly take the Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi trains, which depart early in the morning," said the airport director.
Trains take around seven hours to travel between Calcutta and Bhubaneswar. The flight takes only one hour.
The third new IndiGo flight will reach Bhubaneswar at 12.30am and leave for New Delhi at 6.05am. It will reach the national capital at 8.10am.
Before this, the first flight out of Bhubaneswar was a New Delhi flight operated by full-service carrier Vistara that left at 8.45am.
Two IndiGo aircraft are being parked at the airport since yesterday. These are the planes that leave for Calcutta and New Delhi early in the morning.
Mahalingam said that as of now, Airports Authority of India would not charge the airline parking fees. He said some more airlines have evinced interest in using Biju Patnaik International Airport as a base for night parking. "However, no concrete decision has been taken by any other airline in this regard," he said.
Mentioning that other airlines too have shown interest in starting more flights from the city, he said new flights to New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore are likely to be announced in November.
"The airlines operating from the city are presently assessing the passenger flow to different cities from Bhubaneswar. Besides, surge pricing in premium trains have made flying viable and the convenient option for passengers," he said.
The airport director said direct flights from Bhubaneswar to South East Asian destinations were likely to start from the first quarter of 2017.
"Some airlines have evinced interest in starting direct international flights from Bhubaneswar. But they are yet to announce the timing and date of commencement of flights," he said, adding that airlines conduct trial runs for at least two or three months before starting international operations. "Issues such as availability of aircraft for this sector and commercial viability of operations have been discussed by some airlines. The international flights are most likely to start next year."