By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar December 11, 2017: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday inaugurated the Air India’s direct flight service to Bangkok in Thailand from the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here.

Inaugurating the flight, Patnaik said, “I am happy over the launching of the direct flight service to Bangkok from Bhubaneswar. It is indeed a historic moment for all of us. The new service will connect Odisha to the East Asian countries and will be proved beneficial for Buddhist tourism. I hope there would be more international flights from the airport soon.”

The Chief Minister marked the takeoff of the first maiden flight by cutting a cake in the presence of Tourism Minister Ashok Chandra Panda and BPIA Director Suresh Chandra Hota.

The first Air India flight number A1338 took off from the airport at around 3.45 pm and was scheduled to reach Bangkok by 8.15 pm.

Earlier in the day, the first maiden flight number A1339 with 18 passengers on board took off from Bangkok at around 5.40 am (IST) and arrived here at 7 am.

The direct flight service to Bangkok would be available from the airport every Thursday and Sunday.

While earlier in 2017, the AirAsia had announced its first weekly international flight service from here connecting Kuala Lumpur, later it made the operation daily as the city airport has become a much sought-after destination for air travellers.

The two international operations from the city are expected to open floodgates of opportunities for travellers, tour operators and others as the niche tourists planning to visit Buddhist destinations in Odisha and vice versa would get a boost in up-scaling their plans and frequencies.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already started a cargo operation from and establishment of a separate cargo terminal for handling cargo is in pipeline. Once completed, the cargo terminal can be a perfect launching pad for local entrepreneur and exporters to use the facility to send their products to destinations across the globe.