Bhubaneswar:  In good news for air travellers who often get irritated while standing in long queue, one more departure gate was opened today at the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Odisha capital.

The new departure gate at Terminal 1 of the airport in order to reduce the traffic congestion, an airport official said.

Gate 1 is for Air Asia and Air India and it will remain open from 6 AM to 9 PM, while gate 2 is for GoAir, IndiGo and Vistara, which will stay open throughout the day and night, the official informed.

“We have opened two departure gates at Terminal 1 in order to reduce traffic congestion at the airport and travellers can save a lot of time,” said BPIA Director Suresh Chandra Hota.

He said the airport witnesses maximum travellers arriving and departing between 6 am and 9 pm. The facility, which is not available in all domestic airports in the country, will be immensely helpful as the airport records tremendous growth in the recent years, Hota added.

The airport sees movements of around 40 flights between 6 am and 9 pm, the director said.

The airport, which was started operations in 1962, registered a 39.4% growth in air passenger traffic in 2017-18 fiscal as compared previous years.

According to the statistics released by Airport Authority of India (AAI), total 32,50,635 air passengers (both domestic and international) have flown from Bhubaneswar airport in 2017-18 while the number was 23,32,433 in 2016-17.