The Odia community in the United Arab Emirates is on edge following signs that the only remaining direct flight between Dubai and Bhubaneswar might be scrapped. Odisha Samaj UAE has sounded the alarm after noticing that IndiGo has stopped accepting bookings for the route beyond March 30, 2026, with the flight completely vanishing from the airline's official website.
This isn’t the first time the diaspora has faced this scare. A similar move to pull the plug on the service was narrowly avoided in September 2025 after the state government stepped in at the last minute. However, the situation feels more urgent this time as the direct Abu Dhabi–Bhubaneswar flight has already been discontinued, leaving the Dubai route as the final direct link for the nearly 40,000 Odias living in the UAE.
Amiya Mishra, President of Odisha Samaj UAE, has officially reached out to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, urging them to put pressure on the airline. He pointed out that losing this connection would be a massive blow not just for families and homesick professionals, but also for tourism and burgeoning business ties. For many, the alternative — long layovers in cities like Mumbai or Delhi — is both expensive and exhausting.
Dubai serves as a massive global hub, and the community argues that cutting this tie would isolate Odisha from a key international market just as the state is trying to ramp up global investments. The diaspora is now waiting to see if the state government will once again pull off a last-minute save to keep the flights in the air.
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