The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is mulling over plans to get an additional air connectivity started to Kolkata from Swami Vivekananda Airport in Raipur.
“Recently, Ahmedabad was added as a new destination. Additional flight to Kolkata is subject to availability of aircraft by the concerned airlines,” Swami Vivekananda Airport Director Santosh Dhoke told The Pioneer.
Significantly, the Airport is likely to mark itself as among the top airports providing maximum domestic passenger services by end of this financial year.
Dhoke said, “We may cross the figure of 10 lakh passengers per annum as far as listing is concerned. It will be checked after the completion of the financial year.”
Presently, Raipur is connected by air to Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Visakhapatnam, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Bhopal.
Air India, Indigo and Jet Airways are offering flights on these routes.
Notably, the runway of the Airport is also to be extended by 965 metres. The present length is 2286 meters.
last year, the Airport officials had decided of making efforts for developing the Swami Vivekananda Airport as a ‘green airport’ while taking step towards energy saving and environment conservation initiatives.
Also, Air Taxi service to several parts of the State like Ambikapur, Jagdalpur, Jashpur, Bilaspur, Korba and Raigarh was decided in 2015. last September, the Airport was felicitated with the National Tourism Awards 2013-14 in the Airports category by President Pranab Mukherjee.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh is also set to gain immensely from Centre’s recent proposed formulation of Regional Connectivity Scheme (“RCS”) to promote regional air
connectivity in Indian airports by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Notably, the Chhattisgarh government had been trying hard to get airconnectivity for all its key cities besides getting international flights operated from Raipur at the earliest.
The Centre in its bid to develop 50 airports in the country has already included the industrial cities of Bilaspur and Raigarh in its plans for expanding aviation services in Chhattisgarh, officials stated.
It has been decided to formulate Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) to promote Regional Air Connectivity in Indian airports by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of India, officials stated.
It is envisaged that the RCS shall take into account the existing state of air connectivity and other relevant factors so that regional connection is ensured/enhanced by the concerned stakeholders in the Civil Aviation Sector in pursuance of draft National Civil Aviation Policy 2015.
The RCS Formulation must detail the objectives and applicability of the Regional Connectivity Scheme in terms of: Nature of connectivity to be promoted characteristics of routes, basis of classification of the broad range of possible routes, Defining the policy objective of promoting connectivity for each of such broad categories of possible routes (economic development, social cohesion), etc.
Meanwhile, the AAI officials and Chhattisgarh Government’s Bastar district officials jointly visited the Jagdalpur Airport recently to discuss plans for developing the crucial airport in the insurgency infested district.
The AAI team inspected the airport and expressed the possibility of developing the Terminal building, Air Traffic Control Tower and hangar, officials stated.
Officials stated that the infrastructural set up would also pave way for the functioning of two-seater air-taxi service soon.
Moreover, the technical guidance for building the necessary infrastructure was felt by the officers. Notably, the AAI is also mulling over plans to begin three-seater air taxi services from Jagdalpur in the near future.
The inspection visit covered issues like security, land availability and other technicalities. On behalf of AAI, Raipur Airport Director Santosh Dhoke, Civil Aviation Security Bureau’s Security Assistant Commissioner BP Sharma, Air Traffic Management Deputy General Manager (DGM) SK Singh, Air Traffic Control DGM Sudhir Sharma and others visited theairport.