Bhubaneswar airport gets busy

With more airlines starting their services to Bhubaneswar to take advantage of the current phase of industrialization boom, there seems to a battle in the skies over the city.

While the airlines operators are eyeing to capture the fast expanding corporate market, Bhubaneswar is emerging as a major destination for air travelers of the country.

Among the new flights introduced recently the budget carrier Jetlite has started operating an evening flight to Delhi from November 6, to take off from Bhubaneswar airport at 8.30PM and land in Delhi at 10.30PM.

At present, Jetlite, has a daily flight to Delhi from Bhubaneswar at 10.20PM while Air Deccan's daily flight to Delhi takes off at 6.15PM in the evening.

The national carrier Indian Airlines operates daily flights in Bhubaneswar-Delhi sector with scheduled departure at 2.20PM.

That apart, it also operates additional flights to Delhi five days a week excluding Wednesday and Saturday.

Add to it, Indigo Air which plans to introduce a flight to Delhi everyday from November 17, with scheduled departure from Bhubaneswar at 8.55AM.

After Indigo Air starts its operation, four flights will be available to fly to Delhi after evening hours, one during morning and one in the afternoon.

While Jetlite has a fixed tariff of Rs. 4350 for Bhubaneswar-Delhi sector, Indigo has inaugural offer of Rs.1499 plus taxes.

Thus the three airlines with an average daily frequency of five flights will be available with an approximate carrying capacity of 700 passengers.

Jetlite has started its flight service to Chenai and Bangalore from November 6.

The flight to Bangalore is operating four days a week on Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

The airline, operating on Kolkata-Bhubaneswar-Bangalore route, leaves Bhubaneswar at 1.20PM and will land in Bangalore at 3PM.

The airlines is offering an inaugural offer of Rs.1001 plus taxes.

Similarly, Air Deccan, another budget carrier has also daily flights to Bangalore.

So the distribution of the flights is one in the morning, two during afternoon and one in the evening hours.

That apart, Indian Airlines is operating two days a week flights to Bangalore on Tuesday and Friday facilitating movement of air travellers.

Moreover, there is price war in Bangalore sector also.

While Jetlite offers the introductory fare of Rs.1001 plus taxes, Indigo offers Rs.999 plus taxes.

Daily supply inventory to Bangalore is about 460 seats, though a part of it will be filled in by passengers from Kolkota on Jetlite and from Hyderabad on Indigo.

Indian Airlines, which had regular flight operations to Chennai, has recently rescheduled its services to four days a week.

This gap is now being filled up be Jetlite.

The company will operate on Kolkota-Bhubaneswar-Chennai thrice a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

The seat strength will be around 160 daily while the flights of Indian Airlines and Jetlite are scheduled in the afternoon.

Hyderabad is also now being connected by Air Deccan and Indigo plans to start its service to the city from November 17.

The daily carrying strength will be 300 once Indigo adds its fleet to Hyderabad sector.