Flight services between Bhubaneswar-Amarda under UDAN scheme

Bhubaneswar: Flight services between Bhubaneswar and Amarda in Mayurbhanj district are likely to commence soon.

The Central government has identified the Amarda Road airstrip for operation of RCS flights under the UDAN scheme.

Rs 45 crore has also been sanctioned for development of the airstrip as part of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) under UDAN, informed Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Scindia revealed this in a letter while replying to MP Pratap Sarangi’s request made on August 2.

 “Amarda Road airstrip is available in the list of unserved airports in UDAN Document. Under UDAN 4.2, it has been identified for development for the operation of RCS flights. The route Bhubaneswar-Amarda-Bhubaneswar has been awarded to Air Taxi for the operations,” Scindia wrote.

“An amount of INR 45 Crores has been sanctioned for the development of the Amarda airstrip under the UDAN scheme. It has been informed by the Government of Odisha that development work at the airstrip will be taken up once the land is handed over by the Ministry of Defence to the State. On the readiness of the Airport, the Selected Airline Operator may start RCS flight operations from/to Amarda,” Scindia’s letter added.

Notably, Odisha’s Utkela airport in the tribal-dominated district of Kalahandi welcomed its first flight from Bhubaneswar on Aug 31.

Jyotiraditya Scindia inaugurated the flight services virtually from Delhi while Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flagged off the flight services from Bhubaneswar airport.