Odisha: Kalahandi’s Utkela Airport welcomes first flight from Bhubaneswar

Kalahandi (Odisha) [India], September 1 : In a first, a 9-seater flight of IndiaOne Airlines from Bhubaneswar’s Biju Patnaik International Airport landed at Utkela Airport here.
After receiving the nod from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Odisha’s Utkela Airport on Thursday welcomed its first flight.
The scheduled flight took off from Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar at 7:15 AM on Thursday and arrived at Utkela Airport by 8:25 AM.
The same aircraft departed from Utkela at 8:50 AM and arrived at Bhubaneswar at 10 AM.
To welcome the flight, thousands of people and several leaders from Kalahandi district and Bhubaneswar gathered at Odisha's Utkela Airport.
Tukuni Sahu, Minister of Commerce & Transport Department became the first passenger to fly to Utkela from Bhubaneswar.
Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurated the flight services virtually from Delhi while Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flagged off the flight services from Bhubaneswar airport.
Kalahandi MP Basanta Kumar Panda, Bhawanipatna MLA Pradipta Kumar Naik and other officials welcomed the flight with their presence at Utkela Airport.
MP Basanta Panda and BJD Rajyasabha MP Sujit Kumar thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the vision.
Loksabha MP Basant Panda said, "Soon the runway will be extended up to 1,800 metres and 72 seated flights will fly to various places from Utkela Airport."
Scindia and his fellow central cabinet colleague, Gen (retd) VK Singh on Thursday inaugurated Odisha’s Utkela Airport and a direct flight between Utkela and Bhubaneshwar.
The inauguration event by the two ministers was conducted through video conferencing. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik joined from Bhubaneswar airport in person.
The Utkela airport in the Kalahandi district is owned by the state government. It has been developed as a regional airport under the Udan scheme of the central government at a cost of Rs 31.07 crore.
Utkela airport has a runway of length 917 metres (2,995 ft.) with a width of 30 metres. With the addition of Utkela Airport, Odisha now has five airports.
The newly inaugurated Utkela - Bhubaneshwar - Utkela flight route will enhance regional air connectivity and play an important role in the economic development of the region.
The operator would utilize 9-seater Cessna C-208 aircraft sanctioned under the UDAN scheme.
In his inaugural address, Jyotiraditya Scindia said that Utkela to Bhubaneswar air connectivity will reduce the time taken to travel by road which is nearly eight hours.
Elaborating further, the Minister said that this will be a new beginning for the Kalahandi region as economic activities will come up and generate a range of employment opportunities.