ROURKELA: After 14 months, Alliance Air is likely to restore operation of its ATR-72 aircraft on the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar and Rourkela-Kolkata routes from October, with negotiations underway between the Odisha government and the airline over the Viability Gap Funding (VGF).
The AA, operating on the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar route under the RCS-UDAN scheme had subsequently included Rourkela-Kolkata in its flight schedule. However, it stopped operation from mid-2025.
RN Pali MLA Durga Charan Tanti said he met the Odisha Commerce & Transport principal secretary, NBS Rajput, over the issue on Monday. He said the principal secretary told him negotiations are in final stage over the VGF issue, adding in all probability the AA would resume commercial operation of its 72-seater aircraft from October, although no date has been finalised yet.
Meanwhile, complete takeover of the Rourkela airport owned by the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) of SAIL by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) is also in the pipeline. On July 11, SAIL had approved proposal for transfer of ownership of the airport to the AAI and provide additional land for airport expansion. Tanti said in the next step the Steel Ministry would place the proposal for takeover of the airport by AAI before the Union Cabinet for approval.
Incidentally, on July 22, SAIL had signed an extended agreement, for a period of 12 months, which allowed the AAI to act as operation & maintenance (O&M) partner for the airport. The previous agreement between SAIL and AAI had ended in October 2025 and SAIL did not renew the agreement expressing willingness to transfer the airport to AAI.
At present the Rourkela airport carries ARC 2C commercial licence. After the AA stopped operation, a nine-seater commercial aircraft of the IndiaOne Air started operation on the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar route from December 2025 on initiative of the Odisha government.
The state government has plans to expand and upgrade Rourkela airport for 4C CAT 1 IFR operation with DVOR (Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range) and CAT 1 ILS to enable operation of big body aircrafts during day and night.