By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, December 20, 2019: Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri has directed the officials to convene a meeting of chief executive officers (CEOs) of major airlines here to discuss and harness opportunities offered by the potentiality of the State.

Puri directed the ministry officials in response to a letter by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to him on Wednesday requesting to convene a meeting to discuss opportunities offered by the State in the aviation sector.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation in a tweet informed that taking note of the letter from the Chief Minister, the Union Minister has directed Ministry officials to convene a meeting of CEOs of major airlines at Bhubaneswar at the earliest.

Stating that introduction of international flights from Bhubaneswar will provide convenience and comfort to the people of the State, the Chief Minister had invited Puri along with officers of Civil Aviation Ministry and CEOs of major airlines. “We will take the opportunity to present in detail the potential of the State and explain the viability of Bhubaneswar as a favoured international destination,” he said.

The Chief Minister also assured that the Odisha Government will provide necessary support for not only developing infrastructure for aviation but also consider incentives in the shape of viability gap funding (VGF) for the airline operations.

Stating that Odisha has made tremendous stride in the last few years in terms of a steady growth of aviation traffic, he said Bhubaneswar and now Jharsuguda have been added to the aviation map of the country. While domestic flight connectivity has seen a noticeable improvement, there is scope to increase international connectivity, he said and added that presently, only one direct flight is operational for international route.