Bhubaneswar: With a marked dip in Covid-19 pandemic in the country, flight operations are inching back to normalcy in the airports of Odisha. As domestic flight services resumed partially following a two-month-long nationwide total lockdown, Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) recorded a footfall of 9,493 passengers in May last year and has been witnessing an upward trend in travellers since.
“On an average, 33 flights are operating each day from BPIA with footfall of around 8,000. In normal times, we had over 40 flights with average passenger turnout of 11,000 per day. We expect to reach the number soon,” said a senior BPIA official. Similarly, Veer Surendra Sai (VSS) airport in Jharsuguda witnessed around 20,000 passengers in November and 23,000 in December last year. Last month, it saw 27,125 passengers. Introduction of new flights from BPIA and VSS airports this year to metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru has also given a boost to the number of air travellers in the State.
While the much-awaited direct flight service between Bhubaneswar and Pune commenced on January 24, direct flights from Jharsuguda to Mumbai and Bengaluru started operating from January 12. The VSS airport now has 52 flights in a week.
05/02/21 Asish Mehta/New Indian Express
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