International Flights Latest News Today: Here comes a big update for the air passengers who are frequent fliers to Dubai from Odisha. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the direct flights will be operated between Bhubaneswar to Dubai very soon. The chief minister made this announcement while addressing the Odia diaspora in Dubai on Wednesday.
The operation of direct flights from Bhubaneswar to Dubai assumes significance as nearly one lakh people of the state live in the United Arab Emirates. Direct air connectivity between Dubai and Bhubaneswar has been their long-pending demand.
VK Pandian, the chief minister’s private secretary, who accompanied Naveen Patnaik on the foreign tour, said that the Odisha government has already proceeded with a viability gap funding (VGF) plan for direct flight services between Dubai and Bhubaneswar.
For the unversed, the VGF is a grant provided to support infrastructure projects that are economically justified but fall short of financial viability.
Giving details to news agency PTI, Odisha Chief Secretary SC Mohapatra said that the state government will give subsidies to airlines willing to operate direct flights from Dubai to Bhubaneswar under the VGF scheme.
In that arrangement, the government provides subsidies to flight operators for a period of three to six months for new destinations expecting that the operations would be financially viable within that period.
Once the air route becomes economically viable, the government need not give subsidies to the airlines, Mohapatra said.
Notably, this scheme was introduced for international flights from Bhubaneswar to Malaysia and Thailand two years ago. Later, it was extended to domestic flights as well.
Earlier, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had sought direct flight services between Bhubaneswar and Dubai to boost Odisha’s economy through trade and tourism.
In a letter to Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Pradhan had said that he has received a request from Odia Society UAE, Dubai, in this regard.
He had said that more than 10,000 Odia people of the Arab country have been demanding a direct flight to Bhubaneswar for long time.
