February 17, 2018 TnH Global

India’s Air Odisha secures scheduled operator permit

Air Odisha (Bhubaneswar) has received a scheduled air operator permit from India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), allowing it to launch scheduled operations planned to commence on February 17.

“We will launch operations as a scheduled commuter airline from the 17th of this month with a flights service to Mundra from Ahmedabad,” Air Odisha operations head Santosh Pani told the PTI.

The Indian regional specialist plans to launch the Ahmedabad-Jamnagar route on the same day, while its maiden service to Diu is scheduled for February 25. All flights will be operated with Beech 1900Dequipment instead of the previously planned Cessna (single turboprop) 208B Grand Caravan. Air Odisha has already acquired a single Beech Aircraft Corporation turboprop and plans to add a further two of the type by the end of February.

In the future, the airline plans to launch operations out of Delhi Int’l, Chennai, and Bhubaneswar to a number of underserved regional airports in addition to its Ahmedabad network. Air Odisha secured traffic rights for a total of 50 routes under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS/UDAN), an Indian government programme intended to stimulate air travel to remote and underdeveloped airfields.

In December, Air Odisha signed a partnership with Air Deccan (Mumbai Int’l) which will see both regional carriers combine their operations, training, aircraft procurement and maintenance, leases and other expenses in order to improve efficiency. Collectively, the two airlines plan to operate 108 flights daily connecting 67 airports over the next few months, with a combined fleet of twelve Beech 1900Ds, PTI has reported.

Air Odisha was founded in 2012 but, until now, has only operated passenger charter flights.

News Source: PTI