The first flight connecting Jharsuguda (Odisha) and Ranchi started operations from Birsa Munda Airport here on Thursday. The flight has been started by Alliance Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India Limited in order to foster regional connectivity. The flight connecting Jharsuguda to Ranchi is via Bhubaneswar and Raipur. The airline has deployed its 70 seater ATR 72 aircrafts.
“The aircraft are running in almost full capacity”, said Sudesh Kumar Chauhan, Airport director Jharsuguda.
This initiative comes under UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), a regional airport development and regional connectivity scheme of Government of India. The main objective of this scheme is to promote regional connectivity in order to foster increased regional passenger traffic and also to make air travel within the reach of every citizen.
The State of Jharkhand has a number of airports including Birsa Munda Airport, Chakulia Airport, Sonari Airport, Dumka Airport, Atal Bihari Vajpayee International Airport, Dhanbad Airport and Bokaro Airport. Out of these Sonari Airport and Dumka Airport are under process of starting domestic flights, said offcials.
At present there are regular flights from Birsa Munda Airport connecting other nearby airports like Varanasi Airport, Patna Airport, Gaya Airport, Kolkata Airport and Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport. “There are in total 29 regional flights from Ranchi that commute in full capacity,” said Prasanna Kumar Mishra, Assistant Airport Director, Ranchi.
