24x7 flight op now a reality

BHUBANESWAR: The 24-hour operation at Biju Patnaik International Airport here will become a reality on Saturday with three new flights confirming night landing.
The airport got permission for 24-hour operation a month ago but no flight since had landed here after 10pm, when the operation used to be shut according to previous timing.
All the three flights that will come to the airport from Saturday belong to Indigo Airlines.While Delhi-Bhubaneswar flight will land here at 12.30am, the Kolkata-Bhubaneswar flight will land at 10.05pm. Another flight from Bengaluru will land here at 11.25pm, airport sources said.
The Delhi and Kolkata flights will return the next day early morning but the Bengaluru flight will return at 11.50pm the same day.
"The personnel at Air Traffic Control (ATC) will stay ready 24x7. They will work in four shifts. The CISF and terminal managers will also have their night shifts," said airport director R Mahalingam.
With the three flights, altogether 25 flights will operate from the airport. Earlier, we had 20 flights. Two flights started operations on September 12, Mahalingam said.
The round-the-clock operations will help several flights from neighbouring airports to make diversion at any time throughout the year. It will also attract more flights.
"We have fire tenders to meet the requirement during night landing and takeoff. The fire tenders can cater to all Air Bus categories of planes," said the airport director.
The 24X7 operation was mooted for the airport for the first time in 2013 at the aerodrome corroborative decisions making meeting held in Kolkata. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) then had agreed to the proposals of several airlines, which participated in the meeting.
"For managing the terminal there are only three officers now, but for night operations the airport will engage seven more," he added.