Director, AAI, Eastern Range, Satyasudha Bhaduri, Director of Biju Patnaik International Airport, Sharad Kumar, Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patasani and many others attended the ceremony. However, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik did not attend it.
The flight AI-078 carried 154 passengers. They included 37 passengers from Dubai, Tokyo, Singapore, London, Abu Dhabi, New York and New Jersey. The flight AI-873, which arrived in Bhubaneswar at 1:20 PM, was renamed at AI-078. the passengers would board another flight to Dubai at 8:30 PM.
The Bhubaneswar-Dubai flight will leave the Biju Patnaik International Airport everyday at 2 PM and
land at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi at 4:25 PM. They will then get a new boarding pass and will board another flight for Dubai at 8:30 PM.
During the return journey, the passengers will take off from Dubai to reach New Delhi at 4:50 AM. They will board the Bhubaneswar flight at 7:05 AM and arrive here at 9:05 AM.