Utkela (Kalahandi): The state of Odisha got yet another operational airport at Utkela in Kalahandi district and direct flight connectivity between Utkela and Bhubaneshwar on Thursday after Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Union minister of civil aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia jointly flagging off the first flight operation.
Utkela, a town in Kalahandi district, has the fifth airport in the state. It’s owned by the state government. The new airport has been developed as the regional airport under the UDAN scheme of the ministry of civil aviation (MoCA) at the cost of ₹31.07 crore.
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Patnaik and Scindia flagged off the first commercial flight, a 9-seater Cessna C-28 aircraft, of IndiaOne. While the Odisha chief minister was in person at the 917-metre (or 2,995 feet) long and 30-metre wide runway, Scindia and his deputy Vijay Kumar Singh joined the event from New Delhi via video conferencing.
The newly inaugurated Utkela-Bhubaneshwar-Utkela flight route will enhance regional air connectivity and play an important role in the economic development of the region. IndiaOneAir, will be running the flights on this route from 31st August onwards. The operator will be utilizing 9-seater Cessna C-208 aircraft sanctioned under the UDAN scheme. This flight will operate according to the following schedule:
| Flight Number | Origin | Destination | Departure (Hrs) | Arrival (Hrs) |
| 17 101 | Bhubaneswar | Utkela | 07.15 | 08.25 |
| 17 202 | Utkela | Bhubaneswar | 08.50 | 10.00 |
In his inaugural address, Scindia said that Utkela to Bhubaneswar air connectivity will reduce the time taken to travel by road which is nearly 8 hours. Now with Utkela-Bhubaneswar flight, the distance could be covered in one hour and twenty minutes. Elaborating further, the he said that this will be a new beginning for Kalahandi region as economic activities will come up and generate a range of employment opportunities. He added that central government is working in close cooperation with the Odisha government developing the civil aviation infrastructure in the state.
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The event was attended by Sujit Kumar, MP Rajya Sabha, Basanta Kumar Panda, MP Lok Sabha, Tukuni Sahu, minister, water resources and commerce & transport, Govt of Odisha. Shri Rajiv Bansal, secretary, MoCA, Usha Padhee, principal secretary, Govt of Odisha, and CEO of India One, Arun Kumar Singh
