Swanky airport is not a guarantee of direct ticket to secluded destinations, a fact many air-travellers would have realised since the new airport terminal at Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Airport (BMA) became operational.
All theories of new terminal becoming a gateway for new airlines seems to have grounded as airport officials have ruled out any fresh plan from any company in the direction of providing connectivity to metro cities especially in the southern part of India.
“There is no proposal regarding providing direct connectivity to southern parts of India,” said Airport Director, Raju Raghvendra Kumar. As many as three airlines, Air India, IndiGo and Jet Airways, are operating on the route of Ranchi to Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Patna. On an average three flights to Delhi and to Mumbai via Delhi or Kolkata.
Even the connectivity plans that were in the pipeline are said to have been put on the backburner. “There were a lot of plans to start new services but most of them have been cancelled due to unknown reasons,” said an official of BMA.
Interestingly, suggestions like reducing taxes on Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) from 20 per cent and bringing it at par with that of the neighbouring states as a way to increase traffic and hence frequency of flights, with the exception of IndiGo, has failed to woo airline operators so far. “IndiGo airline is mulling to start new services,” said an official of BMA.
Incidentally, the State Government had brought taxes on ATF down to 4 percent in March after much hue & cry over purportedly unjustified level of taxes and its negative impact on aviation services in the capital. “Reducing fuel tax is an attempt to boost up traffic and other services at BMA,” said Kumar.