Air Odisha loses contract to fly in 3 states for poor show in UDAN scheme

Air Odisha, through an agreement with AAI, had to operate 70% of planned flights in three months, but the low-cost airline hardly managed to keep its commitment.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has terminated the Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (Lupin eyes product acquisition in India) contract of private airliner Air Odisha covering three states — Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha — for poor performance.

Air Odisha, through an agreement with the AAI, had to operate 70 per cent of the flights in three months. But, it hardly operated them. By invoking clause 17 of the agreement, the private flier was issued a termination letter.

“A letter (of termination) has been sent to Air Odisha issued by our corporate headquarters, who had an agreement for regional connectivity scheme (RCS) operations in these states,” said S C Hota, director, Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar.

Sources said the operator has financial, managerial crew and other aircraft-related issues that constrained its ability to operate smoothly in the network. With this development, the future of the newly built Jharsuguda airports has been thrown into uncertainty.