After the Jharsuguda Airport, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 22, three more airports are in the offing in Odisha. The infrastructures of the three airports are being developed in Jeypore, Rourkela and Utkela at a total investment of over Rs 100 crore. These airports are expected to be operational by 2019, informed Airports Authority of India (AAI) Member (Planning) AK Pathak.
While the airport in Rourkela is likely to be functional by October-November this year, those in Jeypore and Utkela are expected for operations by March 2019, he said.
The Jharsuguda Airport has been built over an area of 909.22 acres at a cost of Rs 175 crore, of which the State Government has contributed Rs 50 crore.
The airport has a total of 1,028 acres of land, which is equal to that of the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) in Bhubaneswar. The new airport can be developed for management of 20 million air passengers in future. Bigger planes like Airbus 320 and Boeing 737 can land at the Jharsuguda airport, Pathak said. Recently, first trial landing of a Boeing flight of Indian Air Force (IAF) on the Jharsuguda airport runway was successful. The IAF’s Boeing-737 flight made first landing on September 11 ahead of the airport’s formal inauguration.
Notably, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has granted a 4-C category licence to the Jharsuguda Airport allowing it for operation of bigger planes.