Jharsuguda airport gets operational license in Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has granted a license to Jharsuguda airport making it the second operational airport in Odisha after the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar.

This was informed by the Civil Aviation Ministry on Friday.

“2nd airport of Odisha gets license today. Happy to inform the licensing of Jharsuguda airport today by DGCA. It will pave way for scheduled operations,” tweeted Joint Secretary of Civil Aviation Ministry, Usha Padhee.

The airport got the license to operate aircraft under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-Udan (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik).

Jharsuguda is one of the five airports in Odisha chosen to provide regional flight connectivity under UDAN scheme.

The other airports Utkela (Kalahandi), Jeypore (Koraput) and Rourkela (Sundergarh) are also likely to be given clearances by the ministry soon.

Padhi informed that Rourkela, Jeypore and Utkela will be given operational license to place Odisha on the fast track in civil aviation network.

The state government had inked a memorandum of understanding with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) on July 30, 2014, to develop the Jharsuguda airport with a budget allocation of around Rs 210 crore.

The airport has been developed over an area of 909 acres and will go for capacity expansion with the addition of another 200 acres in subsequent phases.

The project is jointly developed by AAI and the state government was earlier scheduled for completion by December 2017 but was later deferred till May 2018.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik welcomed the accordance of license by DGCA to Odisha’s second airport at Jharsuguda.

“Air connectivity will fulfil people’s aspirations and boost socio-economic progress in western Odisha. State Government will provide all support for early operations at the airport,” said the Chief Minister.