___________

Following is from the PIB report at http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=80759.

Odisha Chief Minister calls on Civil Aviation Minister

Civil Aviation Ministry to process the proposal for upgradation of Bhubaneswar Airport to International Airport

New Domestic Terminal Building to be ready by August

The Union Civil Aviation Minister Ch. Ajit Singh has said that the proposal of Odisha Government for the upgradation of Biju Patnayak Domestic Airport Bhubaneswar to International Airport will be processed by his Ministry for seeking the Cabinet approval.Ch. Ajit Singh said this today in a meeting with Odisha Chief Minister, Shri Navin Patnayak in New Delhi.

Ch. Ajit Singh has agreed to consider the proposal of upgradation of Bhubaneswar Airport and seek the Cabinet approval for the same in keeping with the State’s Tourism potential including famous Buddhist sites and monuments. Odisha is also rich in biodiversity, natural resources and mines which strengthens the claim of Bhubaneswar Airport to be upgraded as International Airport.

The new Domestic Terminal Building at Biju Patnayak Airport Bhubaneswar which is likely to be completed by August 2012, will cater to 800 passengers against the capacity of 500 of the present terminal building. The new terminal building will be completed at the cost of Rs 145.54 Crores and will include extension of Apron for additional one ‘D’ type and two ‘C’ type bay.

The Civil Aviation Minister, among other things, also discussed the issues relating to construction of main approach road from Sachivalaya Main Road to Airport, land acquisition of 22 acres for extension of basic strip upto 300 mtrs., land acquisition of 141 acres for extension of runway from 9000 ft to 10,500 ft., and the proposal for development and operationalisation of Jharsuguda Airport in phased manner, initially for ATR 72-500 type of aircraft operations and subsequently for AB0321.

The above PIB report is probably based on the Civil Aviation ministry’s release. The Odisha government’s release is in the news report http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=32449. Following is from that report.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today met the  Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Ajit Singh, in New Delhi. Hon’ble Chief Minister, Odisha informed the  Union Minister for Civil Aviation that Odisha does not have adequate air connectivity which acts as a major impediment to the industrialisation process and the growth of tourist traffic in the State.

He mentioned that the State does not have even a single International Airport and is managing with only one operational Domestic Airport at Bhubaneswar. The Chief Minister highlighted that the State has witnessed a significant spurt in investment in various industrial sectors and offers incredible tourist destinations including the World Heritage Monument, the Sun Temple Konark, the world famous Shri Jagannath Temple at Puri, many beautiful beaches and the largest Brackish water Lake, Chilka. He, accordingly, stressed upon the urgent need to scale up infrastructural support to the Aviation Sector in the State, both from the equity standpoint and the development perspective.

The Chief Minister requested the Union Minister to declare Biju Patnaik Airport as an International Airport at the earliest and provide the required facilities including an International Terminal with 24X7 ATC operations, customs and immigration facilities and security, etc. He asserted that the Ministry of Civil Aviation may accord early clearance to those Airlines which are interested to operate International flights to and from Bhubaneswar.

He also requested the Union Minister for providing necessary infrastructural support to the Jharsuguda Airport for enabling Domestic Airlines to operate from there. Chief Minister stated that the Airport Authority of India may also have a closer look at the other existing Airports in Odisha and provide the required infrastructural support to make the feasible Airports operational for Domestic Airlines. This, he stated, would improve the air connectivity within the State.

The Chief Minister assured that the State will provide all necessary support to the Ministry of Civil Aviation/ Airport Authority of India in their task of upgrading Bhubaneswar Airport to an International Airport and in making other Domestic Airports in the State operational.  Union Minister appreciated the concerns of Odisha and assured that his Ministry will immediately prepare a Note for seeking the approval of the Cabinet for upgrading Biju Patnaik Airport to an International Airport.

For Jharsuguda Airport, the Union Minister stated that the length of the Airstrip will be increased to the desired minimum to make it operational for domestic airlines, at the earliest. He also assured the Hon’ble Chief Minister that his Ministry will actively explore the possibility of connecting Bhubaneswar to the Middle East and South East Asian countries. The Union Minister added that the Union Civil Aviation Ministry and Union Tourism Ministry will work closely with the State Government to host an Aviation/ Tourism Conference in Bhubaneswar for promoting tourist traffic to the State and assured that every possible support will be made to project Odisha as a world class tourist destination.

Note that in December during the Invest Bhubaneswar symposium flydubai had categorically said that if they get a slot from India to fly to/from Bhubaneswar then they will fly Bhubaneswar – Dubai.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

Though the AAI had asked the State Government to make available a total of 815 acres of land for the airport project, the latter had requested the AAI to scale down the land requirement since maximum 734 acres are available in the area.

Now, the State Government has assured the AAI to provide additional land of around 40 acres for upgradation of the airstrip. Patnaik said the 40 acres of land would help construct a 6,000-feet-long runway. The district Collector has been told to identify suitable land and clear the encroachment, if any, before handing over the land to the AAI.

Although the above is a good step, considering the important of this airport towards well-rounded development of Odisha the government is too slow. It needs to move faster.

Thanks to Saket Sahu @ Orissatoday google group for the pointer.

Following is from the Team Orissa newsletter of AprilJune’2011.

In regards to the airport in Paradeep, there has been news that it will be an important aspect of the proposed PCPIR in Paradeep.

In the past, two other airport locations have been mentioned: Koraput/Jeypore/Sunabeda area and Balasore/Baripada/Rasgovindpur area. In fact, after Rourkela, Jharsuguda and Gopalpur, these two will be the important locations as they have the potential to be regional airports.

In the last couple of days there have been several news items regarding improving the air connectivity and airport infrastructure in Odisha. These include:

• Steps towards improving the current airport in Bhubaneswar.
• Steps towards expediting the Jharsuguda airport.
• Steps towards having air services to two additional airports in the state.

Following are some of the news items and excerpts.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

A private airline today submitted a proposal to the state government to start a daily air service between Rourkela and Calcutta. The company initially proposes to operate an 18-seater aircraft.

The company, which has done a preliminary survey, intends to use the airstrip of Rourkela steel plant but it has urged the government to provide another 64 acres to develop the airstrip. In the second phase, it plans to start anther flight from Rourkela to Bhubaneswar via Jharsuguda. The proposal is under consideration, said sources. Representatives of the airline met the chief secretary Bijay Patnaik and submitted their proposal today.

My position is that the ministry is most welcome to make Vizag an international airport; but it should not deprive Bhubaneswar the same. Since the above article pokes holes on Bhubaneswar’s claims for international designation and explicitly mentions Vizag, hence my following attemp to compare the two in terms of daily non-stop flight connectivity. I used http://www.cleartrip.com and used the dates of 18th and 26th Novmeber. (This is an initial attempt. If I missed something please let me know.)

* The Kingfisher Delhi-Bhubaneswar flights are canceled for now, in November they show twice a day and in some December dates they show once a day. Its exact schedule is at http://www.flykingfisher.com/Flex/schedules.pdf. There it shows the following:

Delhi (DEL) IT 3346 19:30 21:25 320 0 03 Oct 2010 24 Oct 2010 7 Kingfisher Red Service
Delhi (DEL) IT 3346 20:30 22:40 320 0 31 Oct 2010 22 Mar 2011 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Kingfisher Red Service
Delhi (DEL) IT 3350 09:10 11:20 320 0 31 Oct 2010 22 Mar 2011 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Kingfisher Red Service

Bhubaneswar (BBI) IT 3345 17:05 19:00 320 0 03 Oct 2010 24 Oct 2010 7 Kingfisher Red Service
Bhubaneswar (BBI) IT 3345 17:45 19:55 320 0 31 Oct 2010 22 Mar 2011 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Kingfisher Red Service
Bhubaneswar (BBI) IT 3349 06:30 08:40 320 0 31 Oct 2010 22 Mar 2011 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Kingfisher Red Service

That is it will have twice daily flights between Bhubaneswar and Delhi.

Some other comparative numbers:

• As per http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55629 average number of flights operated in a day from Bhubaneswar is 50 and from Vizag is 33.
• As per the world-gazetteer the population of the Bhubaneswar metropolitan area is 1,696,807 and the population of the Vizag metropolitan area is 1,534,162. 

On Jharsuguda airport there seems to be a deadlock. It is clear that the center wants 815 acres land and the state is offering only 734 acres.

Why is not the state giving the amount of land the center is asking for? Is there some genuine reason behind it? I don’t know. Perhaps someone who knows can help.

Also is the amount of land that the center is asking an absolute must? Are there other operational airports with less land? (I don’t know.) Ofcourse more land would mean a bigger airport. But is not it possible to use the land the state is giving to make the airport and then pursue the additional land for future expansion.

Update: Just did some search and found that:

• Patna airport covers an area of only 254 acres.
• Varanasi airport covers an area of 582.5 acres.
• Trivandrum airport is a 583 acres campus.
• Tirupati airport: Currently at 293 acres and will grow to 690 acres.
• Dibrugarh airport: 253.96 acres.
• Jaipur airport: 716 acres.
• Tiruchi airport: 702 acres.
• Jammu airport: 88.7 acres. (??)
• Srinagar airport: 52.6 acres. (??)
• Ranchi airport: 526 acres.

Outside India there are some very busy airports that have around 700 acres of land. For example:

• La Guardia Airport in New York is 650 acres. (It is next to a river through.)
  • In 2008, 176,373 flights departed LaGuardia. That makes it an average of 483 flights a day.
• Reagan National Airport in Washington DC is 733 acres. (It is also next to a river.)

(Thanks to Future Berhampur for the link.)

This is an welcome news. My guess is that if proper efforts are made then the situation with respect to air connectivity in Odisha could be as follows:

• Bhubaneswar airport would have a few international flights, better connectivity to big cities across India and small planes flying to nearby smaller airports.
• Jharsuguda airport would have flights to several cities in India.
• Airports in Rourkela, Berhampur, Jeypore and Rasgovindpur would have small planes (20-40 seaters) flying mainly to nearby larger airports.
• The locations mentioned above matches with the Tier 1 and 2 areas mentioned in the orissa2020 site.
• In the next tier will be airports at Angul, Therubali, Utkela (Kalahandi) and others. (See the list of airstrips in Odisha here.) I think because of the industries Angul and Therubali will be the leading contenders.

Tathya.in has an article about this. Following are some excerpts.

The Odishans world-wide now recognize the need of International Flights to Bhubaneswar and Domestic Flights to Jharsuguda in order to effectively connect to the hi-tech businesses and tourism around the world.

Without the requisite air connectivity, Odisha cannot expect a jumpstart in development given all the potential that the state has in Tourism, Education and IT, feels Purna Mohanty, leading Non Resident Odia(NRO).

It all started during Pre Invest Bhubaneswar meeting at Hotel Swosti in May 2010, said he.

And then further concretized with hard-copy signature campaign during Invest Bhubaneswar and OSA Convention during 1-4 July, followed by Ratha Yatra Festival in Silicon Valley, CA, USA.

The signature campaign was completed and submitted to Prime Minister, Civil Aviation Minister, Chief Minister and Member of Parliaments.

NROs are thus presenting an overall proposal of Air connectivity in Odisha, with a request to consider & expedite the implementation of the following at the minimum:

Upgrade the 6 decade old regional Airport at Bhubaneswar to an International Airport at the earliest possible.

Expedite and complete the construction of ongoing western regional Jharsugda Airport in Jharsugda district, in western Odisha, within next two years.

The petitionodisha site has a petition on immediate upgradations of airports in Odisha. Please visit it. Besides signing it please also send emails (email addresses of where to send is given here) as in my experience emails have more impact than e-petitions. While our earlier email sample only mentioned Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda, the petition adds Jeypore. It is indeed a good location for a 3rd functioning airport of Odisha. (We earlier wrote about it.) Feel free to add that to your email. 

Pointers to relevant postings from the past:

• Jain Steel, an obstacle to Jharsuguda airport.
• Bhubaneswar international airport issue raised in the assembly.
• Jharsuguda airport status statement by the CM in the assembly.
• Campaign for international airport in Bhubaneswar and airport in Jharsuguda.
• Jharsuguda airport to be developed by PPP?
• Future airport plans (includes info on Jeypore and Rasgovindpur).
• 800 acres needed for Jharsuguda airport.
• Airstrips in Odisha.
• MOU to be signed for Jharsuguda airport.

Following is excerpted from a report in Orissadiary.com.

The Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday informed the House  that  the Airports Authority of India has already agreed to develop Jharsuguda Airport to a full fledged one and for which the latter has also asked 815 acres of land free of cost.

… The Chief Minister  informed that the Authority considering the proposal of the State Government of developing Jharasuguda Airport to a full fledged Airport, has asked for additional land of 815 acres free of cost. However, a maximum of 734 acres of land is available near the Airport which includes 418 of Private land. So, the Authority has been requested to scale down their requirement of land through a reasonable estimate. They have also been asked to intimate a firm commitment to complete the expansion project of the Airport within a period of two years from the date of receipt of the additional land and a reply to this effect is awaited, he said.

Related postings on the topic:

• Campaign for international airport in Bhubaneswar and speeding up the airport in Jharsuguda.
• Jharsuguda airport to be developed by PPP?
• Future airport plans.
• 800 acres needed for Jharsuguda airport.
• Airstrips in Odisha.
• MOU to be signed for Jharsuguda airport.
• The complete coverage on the Jharsuguda airport progress.

Following is an email that I and many other are sending to the PM, the Minister of Civil Aviation, the chief minister and other officials. Please consider sending similar emails to them. Feel free to add additional requests (such as air services to Rourkela airport, etc.) that may seem logical to you. The email addresses to send are: "Dr. Manmohan Singh" <pmosb@pmo.nic.in>, praful@sansad.nic.in, Chief Minister <cmo@ori.nic.in>, ps.moca@nic.in, secy.moca@nic.in, ctsec@ori.nic.in, "Sonia Gandhi" <soniagandhi@sansad.nic.in>, ortour@orissatourism.gov.in

To: Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, Government of India

        Mr. Praful Patel, Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India

  CC: Mr. Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Government of Orissa

  Dear Dr. Singh and Mr. Patel:

  Yet again Orissa is being neglected with respect to infrastructure development. While there are news reports [3] that Visakhapatnam airport will soon become an international airport, your government is neglecting the just demands of making Bhubaneswar an international airport even though the later would serve a much bigger population, will be the only international airport in the state, and as per your own data currently has 50% more daily flights than Visakhapatnam.

 Is this because Congress rules in Andhra Pradesh and is in the opposition in Orissa?

 Sir: We would like you to think about even development across India and not just about states ruled by the Congress party. It is your prerogative to establish as many international airports in Andhra Pradesh or any other state of your choice, and we are happy for them, but please do not neglect Orissa in the process.

 We would like to request you to designate the Bhubaneswar airport as an international airport and have Air India (Express) flights directly connecting Bhubaneswar to international destinations, starting with one or more south East Asian destinations such as Bangkok and Singapore. We would also like you to expedite the establishment and operationalization of a commercial airport in Jharsuguda which will cater to the industrial belt of Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Sundergarh-Rourkela of Orissa and the Ib valley that encompasses Chhatisgarh and Orissa.

 The Bhubaneswar airport caters to the capital area of Orissa and its nearby areas. While the larger metropolitan area of Bhubaneswar [Map1] has a population of 19 lakhs [1], a 200kms radius of around Bhubaneswar consists of 14 of the 21 parliamentary constituencies of Orissa (Berhampur, Aska, Puri, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapada, Jagatsignhpur, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Phulbani) with a population of about 3 crores.

 This area includes several large population centers [Map2] as well as existing and emerging industrial hubs. These centers and hubs are Berhampur to the south, Puri and Paradeep to the east, Angul-Talcher to the west, Kalinganagar, Dhamara and Balasore to the North. The area also includes top tourist destinations such as Puri, Bhubaneswar, Chilika, as well as the Buddhist monuments of Orissa which are of special interest to East Asia. As you may know Buddhism spread to East Asia and beyond when Emperor Ashoka became Dharmshoka on the bank of the Daya river on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

 The area is also ripe for a logistic corridor with existing excellent Rail, Road, and Ports connectivity and with a national waterway under works. Thus an international airport would also make it a multi-modal logistic hub.

 The Bhubaneswar airport has a runway of 9000 feet and it is being extended to 10,500 feet.

 Currently, four airlines have regular flights linking Bhubaneswar, three of which have international operations. They are Kingfisher, Jetlite (of Jet) and Air India. The 4^th airline connecting Bhubaneswar is Indigo which commenced operations in India on 4th August 2006 and would be eligible for international flights in 2011.

 The average number of flights operating from Bhubaneswar [2] is 50, which is more than with respect to airports in Calicut – 50,  Nagpur – 48, Coimbatore – 42,  Mangalore – 30, Patna – 27, Srinagar – 27,  Amritsar – 27,   Trichy – 21, Varanasi – 16, Port Blair – 15, Tirupati – 9, Gaya – 1 all of which have been designated as international or customs airports.  In addition, there have been recent reports [3] that Visakhapatnam with an average of 33 flights will soon be an international airport.               

 In [Map3] we map the international and custom airports of India and as anyone would notice there is a big gap around Bhubaneswar.

 With Bhubaneswar emerging as an IT, Knowledge/Education and Tourism hub, and Odisha among the leaders in terms of incoming investments it is imperative that the Bhubaneswar airport be made to an international airport urgently.

 We sincerely request you to shed your partisan attitude of neglecting the non-Congress ruled state of Orissa (in favor of Congress ruled states like Andhra Pradesh) and  take immediate action on that front and declare Bhubaneswar as an international airport and commence international flights to/from Bhubaneswar.

 
[1] http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/1846

[2] http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55629

[3] http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/article478992.ece

[4] http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55628

Sincerely,

APPENDIX 1

From http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55628

The average number of flights operated in a day from each of the International Airports in the country is as under: Mumbai(MIAL) – 654, Delhi (DIAL) – 666, Chennai – 306, Banglore (BIAL) – 280, Kolkata – 231, Hyderabad (GHIAL) – 219, Cochin – 112, Ahmedabad- 107, Guwahati – 90, Trivandrum – 71, Goa – 64, Calicut – 50, Jaipur – 66, Nagpur – 48, Port Blair – 15, Srinagar – 27, Amritsar – 27, Pune – 66, Indore – 61, Juhu – 60, Bhopal – 59, Lucknow – 56, Vadodra – 54, Bhubaneswar – 50, Coimbatore – 42, Visakhapatnam – 33, Ranchi – 32, Raipur – 31, Mangalore – 30, Patna – 27, Jammu- 23, Agartala – 23, Trichy – 21, Chandigarh – 21, Udaipur -21, Imphal – 19, Madurai – 20, Bagdogra – 19, Varanasi – 16,Aurangabad – 14, Silchar – 11, Tirupati – 9, Jodhpur – 7, Leh – 6, Rajkot – 6, Gaya – 1.

APPENDIX 2

FROM http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55628

So far, seventeen airports in the country have been accorded “International Status”. These airports are Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Calicut, Chennai, Guwahati, Jaipur, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi, Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Goa, Port Blair and Srinagar. Of these, eight airports, namely, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Calicut, Chennai, Guwahati, Jaipur, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram belong to Airports Authority of India (AAI) and three Civil Enclaves, namely, Goa, Port Blair and Srinagar are maintained by AAI. AAI provides CNS / ATM services for five airports managed by Joint Venture Companies at Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai and Nagpur and for one private airport at Kochi. At Goa, Port Blair and Srinagar, which belong to Defence, AAI only maintains Civil Enclaves and CNS/ATM services are provided by Defence. In addition, Tirupathi airport has been declared as an international airport subject to the condition that the international airport may be made operational only after requisite facilities have been put in place.

Some airports are notified as Customs airports which can also cater to international flights. The customs airports are Varanasai, Tiruchirapalli (Trichy), Patna, Mangalore, Lucknow, Gaya, Coimbatore and Pune (civil enclave).

APPENDIX 3

From http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/article478992.ece

Favourable reply to Rosaiah’s letter to Union Ministry likely next month

International flights may very soon begin to land at the Visakhapatnam airport with the State Government taking firm initiative to get permission from the Union Government to formally declare it an International Airport.

The Department of Investment and Infrastructure now with Chief Minister Konijeti Roshaiah has written to Ministry of Civil Aviation to accord the requisite permission for the airport and a favourable reply was likely in July.

MAPS:

MAP 1: Greater Bhubaneswar area as per the CDP made by IIT Kharagpur

MAP 2: Population centers and industry hubs around the Bhubaneswar area (within about 200kms)

MAP 3:  International and Custom Airports of India (showing the big gap around Bhubaneswar)

Postscript: Again, if you would like to campaign for whatever else, Do it. No one is stopping you. But don’t act like the proverbial crabs and thwart efforts that are going on. Unfortunately, as evident from some of the responses (see for example the comments at tathya.in) , some people are not even reading the content carefully (otherwise they would notice the mention of Jharsuguda) and instead of doing something positive, they have a knee-jerk negative reaction.

Following is an excerpt from a Business Standard report.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to privatise 15 out of 40 non-operational airports across the country on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis to make them function again.

“Out of 40 non-operational airports, 15 have the potential to operate and we have planned to give the airports to private developers to operate it for a concession period,” said a top AAI official, who did not wish to be identified.

The airports to be given to private companies are in Rajasthan, Orissa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and north-eastern states. ..

As per the AAI page at http://www.aai.aero/allAirports/nonop_airports.jsp the non-operational AAI airport in Odisha is in Jharsuguda. This is the good news for Odisha. The slightly bad news is that the Chakulia airport in Jharkhand is probably also in that list. It is 67 kms from both Jamshedpur and Kharagpur and about 80 kms from Baripada. If that takes off the proposed airport in Rasgovindpur (in Mayurbhanj) will not happen soon. But overall from the tri-state perspective Chakulia is a better location.

Update: Expressbuzz also reports on this.

Following is from today’s Dharitri.

From the above, and its actions in the past, it seems that Orissa government’s future plan in terms of airports are:

• Make an international airport in Bhubaneswar. (Shifting to the new location will take another 10 years.)
• Make an airport in Jharsuguda to cater for Bargarh-Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Rourkela belt: Will take 2-3 yrs to be operational.
• Plan for an airport in Jeypore: Will take 8-10 years to be operational
• Plan for an airport in Rasgovindpur (near Jaleswar, close to Balasore and Baripada): Will take 8-10 years to be operational

Couple of implications of the above are: Berhampur and Rourkela may not get functional airports in the near future (say next 10 years) as they are close to airports at Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda respectively. The overall airport situation in Orissa in 10 years will be as follows:

Now lets analyze how feasible the airports at Jeypore and Rasgovindpur will be.

• Jeypore: It is 258 kms from Visakhapatnam by Rail and 224 kms by road. It is 378 kms from Raipur; 450 kms from Jharsuguda and 520 kms from Bhubaneswar. It will be at the junction of two expressways and thus would be able to serve a large population in Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Chhatisgarh.
• Rasgovindpur: It will be 30-40 kms from Balasore and Baripada; 70-80 kms from Digha; 80-90 kms from Kharagpur mostly on the expressway; 90-100 kms from Bhadrak mostly on the expressway, close to two expressways; 200kms from Kolkata airport;  210-220 kms from Tatanagar and 260-270 kms from Bhubaneswar. (Tatanagar being only 170 kms from Ranchi may not have a viable commercial airport for some time. Kharagpur being 120 kms from Kolkata will not have a viable commercial airport for a long time.) Thus it is far enough to the nearest airports in Bhubaneswar and DumDum (Kolkata), but at the same time there are enough population centers (Balasore, Baripada, Bhadrak, Digha, Kharagpur, Medinipur, Jhargram, Ghatsila) that will be close to this airport than the existing airports. So this aiport could serve a significant population in Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Update2: Picture of the Bhubaneswar airport upgradation plan. Courtsey: tathya.in.

Update: Excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

… the Chief Minister talked to the Chairman AAI at length and reportedly acceded to the demand of the AAI to bear the cost of Rs.25 crore needed for both land and infrastructure.

815 acres of land is needed for the purpose.

Secondly power, water and road infrastructure is required to be provided free of cost.

So the financial implications will be coming around Rs.25 crore, which will be borne by the State Government, said sources.

State Government and AAI will sign a MOU for development of the airport.

 

Following is an excerpt from a report in orissadiary.com.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) seeks 800 acres of land to set up airport in Orissa’s Jharsguda. This was said by AAI chairman, VP Agarwal at Bhubaneswar.

… He also informed that AAI likely to invest Rs 150 crores in Biju Patnaik airport for the establishment of a new terminal building at Bhubaneswar.  … Moreover, work for the proposed terminal building start from April next year he added. The new terminal building would be designed to accommodate 1000 passengers and it would be centrally air-conditioned.

Following is from a news item in yahoo.

The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has decided to upgrade the airstrip at Jharsuguda in Orissa into a full-fledged airport. The AAI has asked the state government to provide 850 acres for the purpose. The AAI proposal was discussed on Tuesday at a high-level official meeting of the Orissa government. The state government has decided to provide the additional 450 acres for the up-gradation of the air strip. The airstrip was build over 400 acres during World War II, an official of the state directorate of aviation said.

Orissa has 17 airstrips besides the one model airport -Biju Patnaik Airport at Bhubaneswar. The air strips are at Armada Road (Mayurbhanj), Utkela (Kalahandi), Tusra (Balangir), Therubali (Rayagada), Rourkela (Sundergarh), Rangailunda (Ganjam), Rairangpur (Mayurbhanj), Gotma (Nuapada), Gudari (Khandhamal), Sativata-Padampur (Bargarh), Raisuan (Keonjhar), Jeypore (Koraput), Jamdapali-Hirakud (Sambalpur), Birsal (Dhenkanal), Rajbasa-Baripada (Mayurbhanj) and Barbil (Keonjhar), besides Jharsuguda. The state government has been proposing the Jharsuguda airstrip for up-gradation in view of a major industrial hub coming up around the airstrip. Three major aluminium complexes by Hindalco, NALCO and Vedanta Resources are coming up besides several steel and power plants in the Jharsuguda district.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) under the Union ministry of civil aviation will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government very soon for the development of a second airport in the state at Jharsuguda.

"We have already submitted the draft MoU to the state government and discussed the matter with the Orissa Chief Secretary for the development of the proposed airport at Jharsuguda", said PK Singhal, executive director, AAI (eastern region). At present, the state has only one full-fledged airport in Bhubaneswar.

He, however, said the commencement and completion of the new airport depends on the availability of land from the state government. Around 90 acres of land was required for the development of the airport at the industrial town of in south Orissa.

AAI would invest about Rs 80crore in the first phase of the project while the investment in the second phase would depend on the traffic of the airport, he stated.

… Singhal, however, ruled out any other proposal to develop or upgrade airstrips in the state to a full-fledged airport apart from Jharsuguda. “We have not received any other proposal from the government for the development of airport in the state apart from Jharsuguda", he said.

There are 16 airstrips and 12 helipads in the state for landing of aircrafts and helicopters.

There is also a plan to install radars in Jharsuguda. Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

In a bid to strengthen security in the wake of Mumbai terror attack, Airport Authority of India will soon install three monopulse secondary surveillance radars (MSSR) in Orissa and West Bengal.

… The radars would be installed in Kolkata and Raniganj in West Bengal and Jharsuguda in Orissa for proper surveillance of aircraft moving in the region, Mr Singhal said.

At present only one MSSR is functioning here in Orissa’s Ganjam district since 1992.

The radar installed at Berhampur is capable of making surveillance up to 400 km in air path and functions without an airport, he said.

Hopefully now the work will get started.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Taking into consideration the growing demand for an airport at Jharsuguda, the Union government has decided to renovate the existing one …

The government has decided to opt for a public-private partnership for the work. SREI, a Calcutta-based finance company, has expressed interest and is negotiating with the government in this regard, sources said. “No final decision has been taken. A confirmation has been sought from Airport Authority of India. Their decision will be final,” said works secretary S.K. Ray.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

The Government has approached the Indian Airports Authority of India for night landing facilities at the Biju Patnaik Airport here. The IAAI authorities have assured that a Terminal Approach Radar would soon be installed which could enable night landing facilities. The night landing facilities would help the local hospitality industries occupancy rates, Mishra said. A proposal has been mooted for three more airports other than Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda for improving connectivity.

As of today, Orissa has only one airport with commercial flights. That airport is in Bhubaneswar. Following is copied from my site “Orissalinks: Airports and air connectivity in Orissa.”

Bhubaneswar:

• Indian (schedule: daily flights to/from Kolkata [direct], Mumbai [Mumbai-Raipur-BBSR-Mumbai], Delhi [direct], Delhi-Ranchi-BBSR-Delhi, Bangalore [via-Chennai], and Chennai [direct], plus twice a week direct flight to-from Bangalore)
• Air Sahara (network, schedule: direct daily flights to/from Hyderabad, Kolkata and Delhi) – the Kolkata flight is no longer there in the current schedule,
• Air Deccan (schedule: two daily direct flights between BBSR and Kolkata and daily flights between BBSR and Delhi, BBSR and Mumbai, BBSR and Visakhapatnam, BBSR and Hyderabad, BBSR and Chennai and BBSR and Bangalore (via Chennai). A flight between Ranchi and BBSR is also in the offing.)
• Kingfisher (schedule: daily flights to Hyderabad and Delhi [via Hyderabad])
• Wonder air chopper service (chopper flights from Bhubaneswar to Keonjhar and on to Barbil from Feb 9th 2007)
• Spicejet (coming soon)
• Indigo (coming soon)
• Cities connected directly (non-stop or reachable with one-stop but without changing planes)
  
  • Delhi [3+2] (Indian: daily, Indian/Alliance Air: daily, Delhi-Ranchi-BBSR-Delhi, Air Sahara: daily, Kingfisher: daily via Hyderabad, Air Deccan: daily)
  • Kolkata [3] (Indian: daily, Air Sahara: no more, Air Deccan: twice daily)
  • Hyderabad [3] (Air Sahara: daily, Kingfisher: daily, Air Deccan: daily)
  • Mumbai [1+1] (Indian: daily, Mumbai-Raipur-BBSR-Mumbai; Air Deccan: daily)
  • Chennai [2] (Indian: daily, Air Deccan: daily)
  • Bangalore [.3+2] (Indian: daily via Chennai, Indian: 2/week direct, Air Deccan: daily via Chennai)
  • Visakhapatnam [1] (Air Deccan: daily)
  • Ranchi [1,0] (Air Deccan : in cards, details awaited, Indian/Alliance Air: Delhi-Ranchi-BBSR-Delhi)
    
  • Raipur [1,0] (Mumbai-Raipur-BBSR-Mumbai)
  • Keonjhar, Orissa (wonder air, chopper service from Feb 9th 2007)
  • Barbil, Orissa (wonder air, chopper service from Feb 9th 2007)

• More connectivity (planned connections):
  • Jet Airways (network): indications
  • Air India: AirIndia flights from Bhubaneswar to Bangkok or Malaysia in Winter 2006?
  • GoAir (schedule): has plans for Bhubaneswar
  • Airlines with no existing plans for BBSR: Paramount.
• New Indian budget airlines expected to launch during 2007: AirOne Feeder Airline (based in Bangalore); Magic Air; Indus Air; Easy Air; and Star Air. (more information)
• Connectivity wishlist (Oct 26, 2006)
  • BBSR-Rourkela
  • More BBSR-Bangalore (on the way to Goa)
  • BBSR-Pune (on the way to Mumbai)
  • BBSR-Jaipur (on the way to Delhi)
  • BBSR-Goa (with stop over in Bangalore)
  • BBSR-Varanasi (on the way to Srinagar/Delhi/Chandigarh)
  • BBSR-Kochi (with stop over in Chennai)
  • BBSR-Guwahati (with stop over in Kolkata)
  • BBSR-Bangkok/Kuala Lumpur/Seoul (Delhi/Mumbai-BBSR-Bangkok/KL/Seoul)
  • BBSR-London (Kolkata-BBSR-London)
• Airport plans: [Oct22-05-priority-BBSR-Shillong-Dimapur-Nagpur]
• Editor’s comment, Sept 20’05: The private colleges in Orissa should get together with Infosys, Satyam etc. to establish free public wi-fi in Bhubaneswar airport and Bhubaneswar railway station. At this point, it might be a first for the country. It will distinguish Bhubaneswar, generate a lot of publicity, with software companies and airline companies taking notice of it.
• Cities connected (direct or with a stopover), timings

• Rourkela: There is an airport to which Indian Airlines used to fly. Service to it needs to be reintroduced as soon as possible.
• Plans to develop Jharsuguda airstrip to a full-fledged airport: [1]
• Sites for flight news with respect to India: Aviation India; Indian A&D
• A site for flight tickets: http://cleartrip.com