Flight from Rangeilunda airstrip to Bhubaneswar to fly from tommorrow

A non-scheduled flight carrying nine passengers will fly from Rangeilunda airstrip to Bhubaneswar tomorrow, on Biju Patnaik Jayanti.

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Berhampur: A non-scheduled flight will fly from Rangeilunda airstrip on the outskirts of Berhampur city to Bhubaneswar tomorrow (March 5). The flight carrying nine passengers will leave for the state capital on the birth anniversary of legendary statesman and former chief minister of Odisha, Biju Patnaik, which is also celebrated on March 5. The preparation for the first flight and the work on the airstrip terminal has been completed.

Usha Padhee, the Principal Secretary of Department of Commerce and Transport, inspected the infrastructure development work yesterday ahead of the take of the flight. She looked around the runway of the airstrip. She also held discussions with the officers of the District Administration, and Berhampur SP and other officials.

In the initial phase, a 10-seater flight will take off from the Rangeilunda airstrip to Bhubaneswar. The airplane will fly to Bhubaneswar twice a week. In view of the demand and needs of the people, a decision will be taken to increase the number of flights and the number of seats in the second and third phase after the land expansion of the airport.

However, the airstrip does not have an air traffic control tower. An official said the tower is not required for non-scheduled flights. He said if everything goes as per plan, in the second phase, scheduled flights will be operated from the airstrip. The state government has urged the Ministry of Civil Aviation to include the airstrip under Udaan and Rural Connectivity schemes.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik during his visit to Berhampur in 2012, had given his green signal to convert the airstrip into an airport.

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