Jharsuguda: Air Odisha launched flight service to Raipur from the newly inaugurated Jharsuguda airport, which was named as the Veer Surendra Sai Airport today.

Carrying 10 passengers including four divyang children and three crew members (one pilot, one assistant pilot and one flight attendant), the 40-minute maiden flight took off from the airport at 1.30 pm, minutes after inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN (Udega Desh ka Aam Nagrik).

The divyang passengers will stay in Raipur for a couple of days.

The flight will depart for Bhubaneswar from Raipur today.

The flight services from Jharsuguda will be operated six days in a week excluding Sunday.

The regular schedule for flight operation will commence from September 24.

As per flight schedule approved by the DGCA, flight number 6X 201 will depart at 7.00 am from the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar and land at the VSS Airport in Jharsuguda at 7.55 am. The flight operation will be six days in a week.

Similarly, flight 6X 203 between will fly at 8.15 am from the VSS Airport and land at 9.20 am in Raipur. The Air Odisha flight 6X 204 will leave for Jharsuguda from Raipur at 2.00 pm and reach the destination at 2.55 pm. The departure of 6X 209 Jharsuguda-Ranchi flight will be 3.15 pm and arrival time at Ranchi will be 4.00 pm.

The flight number 6X 210 will take off from Ranchi at 4.30 pm and will arrive at Jharsuguda 5.20 pm. The Air Odisha flight 6X 202 will leave at 5.40 pm and reach Bhubaneswar at 6.40 pm.

Earlier, there was report that the first flight from Jharsuguda airport will land in Bhubaneswar.