Located at Sonari, Jamshedpur airport is part of city’s rich heritage. In 1934, Tata Steel decided to provide a landing ground so as to enable persons who travel by air to visit Jamshedpur. It was a red-letter day in the history of the steel city when the landing ground was used by the Aviation Department for their historic experimental flight from Mumbai (then Bombay) to Kolkata (Calcutta) carrying mails of the Imperial Government. This event aroused great interest and shortly afterwards the steel company decided to purchase an aeroplane for the use of their officers.
Sensing the company first purchased A De Haviland “Leopard Moth” Monoplane of 130 H.P. with a cruising speed of 100 miles per hour and maximum speed of 140 miles per hour. At first the plane was used for short flights between Jamshedpur, Calcutta and the collieries, but later on was used for flights to Bombay, Delhi and other distant places. So successful has been the experience with this plane that the steel company by 1939 purchased a larger plane of carrying five persons. This plane was a Waco Bi-plane fitted with a Jacob’s Radial Engine of 285 B.H.P. having a cruising speed of 140 miles per hour and a maximum speed of 160 miles per hour.
“The airport has a rich legacy. It initially had a corrugated iron hangar, which was soon replaced by a concrete and steel structure capable of accommodating two large and four small planes. Initially the landing ground was laid out in the form of a “T” with maximum run of 550 yards,” said an official of aviation department. Over the years, the airport has mostly been used by the company for its official purpose only.
However, sensing the need Air Deccan linked the city to Calcutta in 2007. Due to lack of passengers the service ended soon. Then, MDLR Kingfisher resumed connectivity in 2009, but only for a few months. On August 17, 2010, Deccan Charters hired a turboprop 19-seater aircraft but services ended in February 2011. On January 30, DTDS in association with Spirit Air started its nine seater flight for Jamshedpur-Kolkata. This was the second air service for Kolkata. Northeast Shuttles services started in February, however stopped its flight services from the city.