Flow of passengers at Birsa Munda Airport crossed one million mark this year while air passenger traffic increased by 44 per cent as compared to the number of passengers that travelled thorough it during the previous year. Air passenger traffic from Ranchi is likely to get increased further as four more flights of Air Asia are to get functional from April 15.

“Till March 31 this year, total movement of passengers, both arriving and departing, was 1.03 million where 10, 32,615 passengers travelled through Birsa Munda Airport which is 44 per cent more than the total passengers that  travelled through it during the previous year,” said Director of Birsa Munda Airport Anil Vikram. Seven lakh twenty thousand passengers had travelled during the previous year, he added.

Moreover, Air Asia will start four more flights from Ranchi which may add up more passengers. “Air Asia is starting four more flights from Ranchi Airport for which all preparations have been done and they have even starting bookings for it,” said Vikram. Presently there are 14 flights operational from Ranchi Airport for Patna, Bangluru, Kolkata and Delhi, he added.

In addition to that, Ranchi Airport will soon get flights for Hyderabad and Chennai very soon as per the announcement made by the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha recently when he was in Ranchi for the inaugural ceremony of the newly built Cargo complex at Birsa Munda Airport.

According to the new flight schedule announced by Birsa Munda Airport, first flight to Delhi will depart from here at 9:45 am while the last flight arriving here from Delhi will be at 7:15 pm.

Meanwhile, the process of connecting all five divisions in Jharkhand has been started after Chief Minister Raghubar Das assured Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha that State Government was ready to provide all support to the Government of India to get five divisions connected through air routes.

“Though it is at a very early stage, the process however has been started with several rounds of meeting in this regard,” said Civil Aviation Director Captain SK Sinha. All airports, whether small or big, will also be connected with the State Headquarters, he added.

Sinha, seeking support of the State Government, had made a proposal to Das for connecting all five divisions in Jharkhand through air routes which will bring pace in business too while he was in Ranchi during the inauguration of the newly constructed cargo complex in Ranchi. Sinha also had assured all support from the Ministry of Civil Aviation saying that necessary funds will be released in this regard.