ROURKELA: The process for operation of ATR-72 aircraft from Rourkela airport is likely to be completed by December this year. This was informed by Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia in a letter to Sundargarh MP and chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence Jual Oram on Monday.
In a letter on December 12, Oram had sought to know the status of Rourkela airport under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) - Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN). Scindia said upgradation of the airport is almost complete. It is being inspected by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for operation of ATR-72 aircraft under Aerodrome Code 2C operations. The process is likely to be completed by December-end.
The Minister further said the selected airline operator (SAO) Alliance Air will commence flight operations on Bhubaneswar-Rourkela-Bhubaneswar route. Another SAO Big Charters has recently been awarded the Kolkata-Rourkela-Kolkata route under UDAN 4.0 special round of bidding. Operation of 19-seater aircraft on this route is likely to start from February next year.
Scindia’s letter has made it clear that there won’t be any flight between Rourkela and Kolkata before or during the Hockey World Cup. Despite the desperation of the state government to provide air connectivity to the Steel City in view of the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup scheduled from January 13 to 29 next year, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and DGCA have been lingering the process to start operation of Rourkela airport on technical grounds for the last four years .
Four days back, a team of DGCA had completed inspection of the upgraded Rourkela airport for converting the existing ARC 2B licence to ARC 2C to allow operation of ATR-72 aircraft. Reviewing the World Cup preparations at Rourkela on the day, chief secretary SC Mahapatra said he hoped the airport will get ARC 2C licence in a couple of days. Mahapatra was accompanied by 5T secretary V Karthikeyan Pandian and sports secretary R Vineel Krishna.
The chief secretary said the state government has booked chartered flights to ferry players from Bhubaneswar to Rourkela during the World Cup. Three practice matches would be played at Birsa Munda Hockey stadium from December 24 to test the quality of the turf.