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Following is an excerpt on this from a report in The Times of India.

Over the next couple of months, low-cost carrier IndiGo will base two aircraft in Kolkata to connect more stations out of the city and increase frequency in metro sectors.

Apart from flights to India’s dream holiday destination, Goa, the carrier will also connect Kolkata to Imphal and Bhubaneswar by November.

Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr. Praful Patel was visiting Orissa and he made some statements regarding airports in Orissa. following are excerpts from various news reports on this.

Economic Times/PTI:

The Centre plans to set up another airport at Jharsuguda in western Orissa besides upgrading the existing Biju Patnaik Airport here to that of international standard, Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel said on Monday.

Announcing the Centre’s plan, he said that as one airport is not adequate for the state, the Centre has decided to develop another one in Orissa.

“The Centre will also upgrade the Bjiu Patnaik Airport since there are a lot of activities here,” Patel told a meeting here.

The union minister’s announcement about an international airport came in the wake of rapid industrialisation drive in the state with investors making a beeline for it.

The need for an airport of international standard was also echoed by state Tourism Minister Debi Prasad Mitra.

“An airport of international standard is essential for the state’s overall growth,” Mishra said.

Besides catering to the business houses, the international airport would help tour operators bring foreign tourists to the state which has a 480 km coastline, sanctuaries, historical monuments like the Sun Temple at Konark and beaches, he said.

Tathya.in:

The Union Civil Aviation Ministry is in process of preparing a Cabinet Memorandum to be placed to make Bhubaneswar an international airport.

This was disclosed by Prafulla Patel, Union Minister for Civil Aviation in the sidelines of a media conference held here on 24 September.

He said the Memorandum is being given final shape and soon will be sent to the Cabinet for approval.

The demand to declare the Biju Patnaik Airport at Bhubaneswar as an international airport has gained ground in view of the abundant tourism potential in the state, said Mr.Patel.

Following up on the ad that appeared in Samaja, there have been several reports with more details. Following are excerpts from a New Indian Express report.

The airline will operate eight-seater aircraft from the Capital City to places like Barbil, Keonjhar, Jharsuguda, Jeypore, Sambalpur and Rayagada.

Ticket fare to Barbil would cost around Rs 5000 and to Jeypore Rs 7000. For corporate flyers and individuals buying to and fro tickets, a 40 percent discount can be availed of as an introductory offer.

General Manager (operations) Sumit Mukherjee said, those buying one-way ticket would also be given a 30 percent concession. Talking to mediapersons here, he said, the airline had already positioned one Islander BN2T turboprop aircraft capable of short takeoff and landing on these routes.

The travelling time would vary from 50 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes. Services would run on all days expect Sundays. A Bell 206 BIII helicopter with four seats would be introduced for charter service, he said. Sky Airways is a division of New Delhi-based GSI Pvt. Ltd and is headquartered in Kolkata.

… “We will introduce two aircraft to these places with a seating capacity for 19 passengers before the end of the current year.”

Another news item mentioned that they plan to fly from such towns to Kolkata in the future.

Following is an excerpt from a Hindu report.

Apollo will offer the services of Deccan Aviation’s helicopters at its centres in Bangalore, Delhi, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata, where it has either roof helipads or landing facilities.

Following is a bit of information on Sky Airways:

• A report in Telegraph mentions the following:

… Sky Airways (backed by the M.L. Agarwal group, with business interests in Orissa�s mining and steel sectors) …

Following is from a PIB.

The Government is committed to create a network of world-class airports in the country with a view to establishing India as a global aviation hub. Measures have been taken to augment capacity as a result of which additional capacity to handle 601.05 lakh passengers per annum on the domestic sector and 301.80 lakh passengers per annum on international sector is under construction and is likely to be commissioned within the next two – three years. This information was given by Shri Praful Patel in a written reply to a question.

The Government has undertaken a number of major projects in pursuance of the above objective; to develop, expand, modernize the airports which include

• Restructuring of Delhi and Mumbai airport, through Joint Venture Route, for upgradation and modernization, at an estimated cost of Rs. 8900 crores and Rs. 7000 crores respectively;
• Modernizing and expansion of Kolkata and Chennai airports by the Airports Authority of India (AAI);
• Construction of new Greenfield airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore at a cost of Rs. 2480 and Rs. 1930 crores respectively. Operation of these airports is expected to be commenced by mid 2008. Greenfield airport at Pekyong, Sikkim at an estimated cost of Rs. 320 crores has been approved. In principle approval has also been accorded to a new international airport at Navi Mumbai through Public Private Partnership (PPP). Greenfield airport is also being envisaged at Mopa (Goa);
• Modernizing of select 35 non-metro airports at an estimated cost of about Rs. 5000 crores. The modernization process of these 35 non-metro airports is expected to be completed by March 2010. The Terminal Building and Air Side works are being undertaken by the AAI while the City Side development at selected 24 non-metro airports will be done through private sector participation;
• Upgradation of communication, navigation and surveillance facilities;
• AAI has spent an amount of Rs. 3535 crores for development/ expansion/modernization of airports during the 10^th Five Year Plan and a provision of Rs. 12434 crores has been made by the AAI in the 11^th Five Year Plan for this purpose;
• Government is encouraging Private Participation/Investments in airport infrastructure through the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP Route) further, Government has also permitted 100% FDI, through automatic route, in Greenfield airports;
• The airports are being constructed and developed at Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh; Shimoga, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Hassan and Karwar in Karnataka, Kannur in Kerala; Chennai in Tamilnadu; Itanagar and Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh; Chiethu in Nagaland; Pekyong in Sikkim; Kokrajhar in Assam; Greater Noida, Agra in Uttar Pradesh; Ajmer (Kishangarh) and Kota in Rajasthan; Halwara in Punjab; Surankote and Kishtwar in Jammu & Kashmir; Durgapur in West Bengal; Sindhudurg, Shirdi, Chakan and Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra;
• There are a large number of non-operational and unused airports in the country belonging to the AAI, defence, state governments and private licensees. The Government is keen to promote development of such airports and make them operational to meet the growing need of airport infrastructure in the country. The airstrips at Pant Nagar, Kamalpur, Kailash Ahar, Passighat, Tezu, Along, Daparizo, Tura and Zero are being upgraded;
• In coordination with the State Governments, the AAI has decided to take up development works at the non-operational airports at Akola, Cooch Behar, Kuddapah, Kolhapur, Mysore, Sholapur, Warangal, Surat and Gondia – on the request of airlines and the State Governments.

People Daily online reports that a MOU was signed for improving tourism across multiple tourist desitinations in India and Malyasia.

Bhubaneswar was listed as one of the potential destinations for flight connectivity. This might in Future lead to International flights in Bhubaneswar airport.

Excerpts

“It was further decided that the designated airlines of both sides could operate any number of services to/from 18 tourist destinations in India: Patna, Lucknow, Guwahati, Gaya, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Khajuraho, Aurangabad, Goa, Jaipur, Port Blair, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram Kozhikode, Amritsar, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Tiruchirapalli.”

Business standard reports on this. Following are some excerpts.

After low-cost airlines, it is the turn of no-frill and low-cost airports. In a bid to encourage regional airlines and provide air links to small cities and towns, nearly 25 greenfield or unutilised airport projects have been identified by various states, which will be up for bidding by the private sector. …

A no-frill airport is built at a minimum cost and allows operation of small jets as well as slightly bigger aircraft like Boeing’s B737 or Airbus’ A320. The investment in such an airport could range from Rs 40 crore to Rs 100 crore. …

The places identified for the purpose include Hassan, Shimoga, Gulbarga, Bidar, Mysore (all in Karnataka), Shirdi, Jalgaon, Solapur, Akola (all in Maharashtra), Kannur (Kerala), Madurai, Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu), Rupsi (Assam), Ajmer, Mount Abu, Kailashar (Rajasthan), Behala, Cooch Behar, Malda (West Bengal), Jharsuguda(Orissa), Muzaffurpur (Bihar), Kamalpur (Tripura) and Passighat (Arunachal Pradesh). …

A budget airline executive said, “A low-cost airport can be constructed at a cost of Rs 100 crore, including land cost. Such an airport can increase its revenue through retail outlets, entertainment sources and hospitality projects.” …

A government official said the airports could act as operational bases of regional airlines. “The identification of regional hubs could be made on the basis of origin-destination surveys, traffic demand and the requirements of airlines,” he added.

Tathya.in reports on this. It seems initial steps have been taken, Air Deecan is very much interested, and just some snags need to be sorted out before scheduled flights can commence. One major snag is that the airstrip in Rourkela, is labeled as “private”. It must be labeled as “public” before scheduled flights can commence. To expedite the removal of the snags, one may do the following:

• Send mail to Rourkela Steel Plant MD Mr. B. N. Singh at rkl_mdsecrsp@sancharnet.com (or call him at 2510018) requesting him to request the Director General Civil aviation (DGCA) to change the status of the SAIL built Rourkela airstrip from “private” to “public”.
• Send mail to CMO office (cmo@ori.nic.in) requesting him to make all out efforts for bringing Rourkela under air connectivity at the earliest.
• Thank the DM of Sundergarh (Mr. Krishan Kumar), who was ADM Rourkela before, for his efforts on this and request him to keep pushing until it is done. He can be reached by email at dmsng@ori.nic.in.
• Tell  like minded friends about this and request them to do the above.

Times of India reports that the newly floated MDLR airlines which just launched its Kolkata operations plans to fly Kolkata – Bhubaneswar in couple of months.

From http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=28142

The Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Praful Patel today officially announced that after the merger of Air India and Indian, the new entity will be known as ‘Air India’. While the new company will have its registered office in New Delhi, its corporate office will be in Mumbai and its office for domestic operations as well as the Strategic Business Units will be mostly based in Delhi. The Mascot of the merged airline will be the Maharaja. The new livery and logo of the merged airline were also unveiled by the Minister today.As ‘Air India’ is a globally and nationally recognized brand name, as well as the designated airline in international bilaterals – the ‘AI’ code being available only to the existing name, it has been decided that the merged entity would continue with the same name. The design components of the new logo and livery have been drawn after merging some of the current features of both Air India and Indian Airlines. The logo of the new airline is a Flying Swan with the Konark Chakra placed inside it. The Flying Swan has been morphed from Air India’s characteristic logo, ‘The Centaur’ whereas the ‘Konark Chakra’ is reminiscent of Indian’s logo. The new logo will feature prominently on the tail of the aircrafts. Individually the Konark Chakra will also feature on all the engines of the aircrafts. The choice of colours namely red for “Flying Swan” and orange for “Konark Chakra” are meant to signify vigour and advancement. Further the colours also have a strong association with two carriers thereby retaining the earlier imagery of traditional hospitality and service. While the aircraft will be ivory in colour, the base will retain the red streak of Air India. Running parallel to each other will be the Orange and Red speed lines from front door to the rear door, subtly signifying the individual identities merged into one. The brand name ‘Air India’ will run across the tail of the aircraft. The images of the new livery and logo is available at www.pib.nic.in. MC/GK

View Video Clip

Business standard reports that Kingfisher airlines (schedule) will now fly twice daily between Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. Until recently Kingfisher only flew BBSR-Hyderabad direct and BBSR-Delhi with a stop in Hyderabad. With this addition there will be five daily flights between BBSR and Kolkata (1 Indian, 2 Air Deccan and 2 Kingfisher). Both Air Deccan and Kingfisher flights are scheduled such that one can go from BBSR to Kolkata or Kolkata to BBSR and do business and return the same day.

[Thanks to Deba Nayak in ornet for the tip on the above.]

As per the May 2007 schedule Air Sahara, which has been bought by Jet Airways, ceases to fly between Bhubaneswar and Hyderabad. It will now only fly between Bhubaneswar and Delhi. Thus the number of daily flight connections between BBSR and Hyderabad reduces to 2 (Kingfisher and Air Deccan).

As of today, Orissa has only one airport with commercial flights. That airport is in Bhubaneswar. Following is copied from my site “Orissalinks: Airports and air connectivity in Orissa.”

Bhubaneswar:

• Indian (schedule: daily flights to/from Kolkata [direct], Mumbai [Mumbai-Raipur-BBSR-Mumbai], Delhi [direct], Delhi-Ranchi-BBSR-Delhi, Bangalore [via-Chennai], and Chennai [direct], plus twice a week direct flight to-from Bangalore)
• Air Sahara (network, schedule: direct daily flights to/from Hyderabad, Kolkata and Delhi) – the Kolkata flight is no longer there in the current schedule,
• Air Deccan (schedule: two daily direct flights between BBSR and Kolkata and daily flights between BBSR and Delhi, BBSR and Mumbai, BBSR and Visakhapatnam, BBSR and Hyderabad, BBSR and Chennai and BBSR and Bangalore (via Chennai). A flight between Ranchi and BBSR is also in the offing.)
• Kingfisher (schedule: daily flights to Hyderabad and Delhi [via Hyderabad])
• Wonder air chopper service (chopper flights from Bhubaneswar to Keonjhar and on to Barbil from Feb 9th 2007)
• Spicejet (coming soon)
• Indigo (coming soon)
• Cities connected directly (non-stop or reachable with one-stop but without changing planes)
  
  • Delhi [3+2] (Indian: daily, Indian/Alliance Air: daily, Delhi-Ranchi-BBSR-Delhi, Air Sahara: daily, Kingfisher: daily via Hyderabad, Air Deccan: daily)
  • Kolkata [3] (Indian: daily, Air Sahara: no more, Air Deccan: twice daily)
  • Hyderabad [3] (Air Sahara: daily, Kingfisher: daily, Air Deccan: daily)
  • Mumbai [1+1] (Indian: daily, Mumbai-Raipur-BBSR-Mumbai; Air Deccan: daily)
  • Chennai [2] (Indian: daily, Air Deccan: daily)
  • Bangalore [.3+2] (Indian: daily via Chennai, Indian: 2/week direct, Air Deccan: daily via Chennai)
  • Visakhapatnam [1] (Air Deccan: daily)
  • Ranchi [1,0] (Air Deccan : in cards, details awaited, Indian/Alliance Air: Delhi-Ranchi-BBSR-Delhi)
    
  • Raipur [1,0] (Mumbai-Raipur-BBSR-Mumbai)
  • Keonjhar, Orissa (wonder air, chopper service from Feb 9th 2007)
  • Barbil, Orissa (wonder air, chopper service from Feb 9th 2007)

• More connectivity (planned connections):
  • Jet Airways (network): indications
  • Air India: AirIndia flights from Bhubaneswar to Bangkok or Malaysia in Winter 2006?
  • GoAir (schedule): has plans for Bhubaneswar
  • Airlines with no existing plans for BBSR: Paramount.
• New Indian budget airlines expected to launch during 2007: AirOne Feeder Airline (based in Bangalore); Magic Air; Indus Air; Easy Air; and Star Air. (more information)
• Connectivity wishlist (Oct 26, 2006)
  • BBSR-Rourkela
  • More BBSR-Bangalore (on the way to Goa)
  • BBSR-Pune (on the way to Mumbai)
  • BBSR-Jaipur (on the way to Delhi)
  • BBSR-Goa (with stop over in Bangalore)
  • BBSR-Varanasi (on the way to Srinagar/Delhi/Chandigarh)
  • BBSR-Kochi (with stop over in Chennai)
  • BBSR-Guwahati (with stop over in Kolkata)
  • BBSR-Bangkok/Kuala Lumpur/Seoul (Delhi/Mumbai-BBSR-Bangkok/KL/Seoul)
  • BBSR-London (Kolkata-BBSR-London)
• Airport plans: [Oct22-05-priority-BBSR-Shillong-Dimapur-Nagpur]
• Editor’s comment, Sept 20’05: The private colleges in Orissa should get together with Infosys, Satyam etc. to establish free public wi-fi in Bhubaneswar airport and Bhubaneswar railway station. At this point, it might be a first for the country. It will distinguish Bhubaneswar, generate a lot of publicity, with software companies and airline companies taking notice of it.
• Cities connected (direct or with a stopover), timings

• Rourkela: There is an airport to which Indian Airlines used to fly. Service to it needs to be reintroduced as soon as possible.
• Plans to develop Jharsuguda airstrip to a full-fledged airport: [1]
• Sites for flight news with respect to India: Aviation India; Indian A&D
• A site for flight tickets: http://cleartrip.com