Odia Girl Captain Madhusmita Takes Flight With 215 Odias From UAE

Odia Girl Captain Madhusmita Takes Flight With 215 Odias From UAE

“Jay Jagannath, I wish you all a Happy Raja. I, Captain Madhusmita, invite you onboard this special Air Arabia flight. It is my pleasure to fly you back home to your loved ones on this auspicious day of Pahili Raja,” came the announcement in Odia over the PA system as the 215 Odias onboard Air Arabia flight G9 645 cheered and clapped with joy.

Captain Madhusmita Patnaik, who hails from Berhampur and currently resides in Dubai, took off on a special chartered Air Arabia flight carrying 215 stranded Odias from Sharjah at 8 AM on Sunday. The flight landed at Biju Patnaik International Airport at 2:07 PM. It was the 13th evacuation flight under the Vande Bharat Mission. 

Just before the departure, in a video message from the Air Arabia office in Dubai, Captain Madhusmita said, “It is a proud moment for us to take our state’s people back home to Bhubaneswar on this special flight.”

The special chartered flight was arranged by the Odia Society in UAE, under the Vande Bharat Mission which is an audacious repatriation effort by India. The flight was arranged in consultation with the Consulate General of India to the UAE, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of UAE and Air Arabia. 

The flight brought home Odias who were stranded in different parts of the Emirates due to international travel restrictions in the wake of the COVID 19 lockdown. The initiative for the repatriation was spearheaded by Dr Chandrashekhar Khuntia of Odia Society in UAE. 

It took almost 10 days to get the clearance from the concerned authorities to fly to Bhubaneswar after an Air Arabia flight was made available. Earlier, the flight was scheduled to take off at 1 PM on June 12 but the green signal came only on the afternoon of June 11. So the next available date was on June 14 which also happened to be the beginning of the Raja festival.

Captain Madhusmita has flown planes for leading airlines like GoAir, Kingfisher and Air Deccan before joining Air Arabia with whom she has been flying for the past 5 years. With over two decades of flying experience, her name was suggested by the Odia Society in UAE for this special flight. 

Madhusmita Patnaik became the first Odia lady Captain of international airline service in 2017. She started off as an instructor and over the years rose to become a Captain. After enlisting herself at the Odisha Flying Club she moved to Texas to fulfil her dream as there was no aircraft or instructor available for her here. 

In 2004 she joined Air Deccan as a co-pilot and then she worked with Kingfisher and GoAir to become a Captain.