The first flight of GoAir takes off from the Biju Patnaik Airport in Bhubaneswar on Sunday morning. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 26: With the operation of GoAir flight services starting from the city today, air passengers now have more options before them when they plan their travel.

The introduction of the service is also having an impact on airfares between Bhubaneswar and other major cities in the country.

GoAir has started four flights from Bhubaneswar to Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta and vice-versa.

On the first day of its operation, the new flight service has forced other operators to reduce their fares considerably and in the coming days the fares are expected to go down even further, as there seems to be multi-pronged competition among the service providers to woo passengers.

A search by The Telegraph for a flight on October 29 from different travel sites has revealed that airfare from Bhubaneswar to Delhi is hovering between Rs 4,000 and Rs 6,500, while earlier it used to be between Rs 6,500 and Rs 8,000.

A similar search for flights between Bhubaneswar and Mumbai showed that the fares now range between Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 for a one-way trip. Before GoAir launched its service, one had to shell out anything between Rs 6,000 and Rs 8,000 for a flight to Mumbai.

Similarly, while airlines are charging Rs 3,200 for a trip to Calcutta, the GoAir has placed its fare at Rs 1,999. And there is no doubt that the new service is going to compel its competitors to slash flight charge further in the coming days.

The airfares vary from flight to flight and depends on seat availability. Besides time factor also works in deciding the ticket fares. Vice-president of GoAir Kamal Kikani said that four flights would operate from Bhubaneswar.

“While two flights will operate between Bhubaneswar and Delhi, two others will fly from here to Mumbai and Calcutta,” said Kikani.

The GoAir flights to New Delhi will leave Bhubaneswar daily at 8.45am and 7.25pm, respectively. The return flights will leave New Delhi at 6.10am and 4.45pm. Those travelling to Calcutta and Mumbai from Bhubaneswar can catch their flights at 6.30pm and 11am, respectively. The return flights from the two cities will be available at 9.20am and 3.40pm, respectively. With the addition of the new service, 20 domestic flights will operate from here.

Airport director Sharad Kumar said: “It will help in bringing down the prices and the passengers who travel frequently by air are going to benefit. We always wanted to end the monopoly of the two existing operators running 16 flights everyday. Now we will have four more by GoAir. They may increase the number in future.”

Senior airport officials said that Airlines such as Air Asia, ABC Airways, Air Costa and Vistaara Airways were also in the process of starting their operations from Bhubaneswar in the near future.

Aviation experts feel that once that happens, the city, as well as the state, will have better connectivity with the rest of the country.

Kumar also said that the operation of GoAir flights would boost the chance of starting international flights from Biju Patnaik Airport.