Bhubaneswar, Nov. 2: Air India will start a four-days-a-week flight between Bhubaneswar and Varanasi from Sunday.

The service will be available on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. The duration of the flight will be 90 minutes.

The flight will take off from Varanasi at 12.30pm and land here at 2pm. The return flight will leave Bhubaneswar at 2.45pm and reach Varanasi at 4.15pm.

Fares will start from Rs 3,500.

Air India station manager Tapas Ray said: "The aircraft to be engaged in this sector will be of Airbus 319 type, which had 122 seats. The flight will act as a cultural bridge between the two state. It will be of immense help to tourists who are interested in Buddhist sites, both of Odisha and Bihar."

With this service, the national carrier will have three flights operating from the city to New Delhi, one to Mumbai every day, one to Port Blair two days a week and one to Varanasi four days a week after November 8.

However, two flights to New Delhi (both incoming and outgoing) are now designated as international flights because the passengers get are given immigration right here in Bhubaneswar.

Airport director Sharad Kumar said Air India authorities had informed the Airports Authority of India on October 30 about the new flight to Varanasi and submitted their winter schedule for the new route.

"It will definitely boost tourism activities and will help travellers see the Buddhist sites in the state," he said.

Tourism director Anil Kumar Samal said: "The new flight will provide an opportunity for interaction of tour operators functioning in and around Varanasi, Bhubaneswar and Puri. They can also devise new packages for travellers covering sites in both the states such as Sarnath near Varanasi and Lalitgiri, Udayagiri, Ratnagiri and Langudi near Bhubaneswar."

Hotelier Debashish Patnaik, who is also a member of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India, said: "During the 50th annual convention of the association in Bhubaneswar on September 25 and 27, the demand for better domestic air linkage between Bhubaneswar and other happening tourism destinations of the country had been made. We are happy that the Varanasi flight is going to be a reality soon."

Frequent flier Mrutyunjay Tripathy said: "With more flight services available at Biju Patnaik International Airport, people now have more convenient travel options."