Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has urged the Centre to restore flight services from state capital Bhubaneswar to Karnataka capital Bengaluru and Thailand’s capital Bangkok.
In a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu, Patnaik on Friday (July 20) requested him to restore national carrier Air India’s flight services from Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar to Bangkok and Bengaluru.
On July 16, without any intimation, Air India suspended all its flights to Bangkok and Bengaluru from Bhubaneswar airport till October 3.
Patnaik said the suspension of flights on these two routes is a severe blow to Odisha’s tourism and aviation sector.
In his letter, the Odisha CM said: “The abrupt suspension of the existing operations has been a severe jolt to the aviation and tourism sector in the state. Similarly the withdrawal of the domestic flight between Bangalore and Bhubaneswar has come as a setback for the IT industry in the state.”
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader even urged Prabhu to consider flights to more international destinations, especially South-East Asian countries from Bhubaneswar.
Pertinently, on Dec 10, 2017, Air India launched its service from Bhubaneswar to Bangkok.