Get ready, Bhubaneswar! Air India Express will connect the city to Hindon

Air India Express will begin flight services to Bhubaneswar from the Hindon civil terminal on March 30, making it the eighth new route to be introduced from the airport this month. The airline has already announced flights to Mumbai, Goa, Kolkata, Chennai, Jammu, and two Bengaluru services.

Hindon’s civil terminal, launched in October 2019 under the Centre’s UDAN scheme, has been gradually expanding its domestic network. Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi confirmed the upcoming Bhubaneswar connection on social media. «Aviation Bonanza for #Bhubaneswar! Sincere gratitude to Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi as new flights to Ghaziabad (Hindon) and Port Blair take off shortly under the #NewDestinationPolicy—boosting tourism, trade, and seamless connectivity,» he wrote on X.

Officials at Hindon are awaiting formal confirmation. «The official confirmation on Bhubaneswar from Hindon will be made in a day or two. But from March 30, the operation on the said route is most likely to start. We are working on the schedule, the announcement for which will be made shortly,» an AI Express representative said.

Umesh Yadav, the civil terminal director, echoed this view. «I am given to understand that bookings on the new route have started. But we are yet to receive any official confirmation from either AAI or AI Express,» he said.

According to sources familiar with the development, the Bhubaneswar-bound flight may depart from Hindon at 9:20 AM and land in the Odisha capital at 11:45 AM. The return service is