The Central Government is planning to establish a greenfield airport at Puri and also to make two more small airports operational in Odisha, said Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia while attending the Udan Utsav at the Veer Surendra Sai (VSS) Airport in Jharsuguda on Monday.
He said the Puri airport and the Phase-II expansion of VSS Airport would commence following responses from the State Government. He said his Ministry is also expecting a report from the State Government to resolve the issues of permission and licensing for the Jeypore and Utkela airports. Scindia said that while all the airports around the country were witnessing a steep decline in the number of flyers during the Covid pandemic, the Jharsuguda airport was among a few which witnessed something different. “The number of flyers across the country during the pandemic saw a decline of 62% while Jharsuguda witnessed a mere drop of 5%.”
