By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Call it Alliance Air connects Lord Lingaraj of Bhubaneswar with Lord Kashi Biswanath of Varanasi.
Alliance Air, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India, commenced its flight service from Bhubaneswar to Varanasi and vice-versa on Friday.
The 9I 747 flight with 40 passengers took off from Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) at 11.50 am today and reached Varanasi at 1.40 pm, said an airport official.
On its return journey, the 9I 748 flight will depart from Varanasi at 2.30 pm and arrive at BPIA at 4.20 pm. After arriving in Bhubaneswar, the flight will again leave for Jharsuguda at 5.15 pm.
The direct Bhubaneswar-Varanasi connectivity would bring cheers to the travel and tour operators in the state apart from pilgrims and the common citizen who had been long demanding a direct service between the two cities for increased tourist inflow.
Notably, there was a longstanding demand for direct air connectivity between Bhubaneswar and Varanasi to attract Buddhist pilgrims to Odisha. Now with the introduction of the direct flight services, many Buddhist sites in the state are expected to witness an increase in the tourist inflow.
On the other hand, the Jharsuguda-Varanasi flight under UDAN-III scheme which was scheduled today has been cancelled due to delay in administrative procedure.
