Jharsuguda Airport gets License from Ministry of Civil Aviation

Bhubaneswar: Usha Padhee Joint Secretary of Ministry of Civil Aviation, on May 4 through her twitt confirmed the approval of second Airport in Odisha. She informed that Director General of Civil Aviation has given the license for Jharsuguda Airport and will soon be followed by Rourkela, Jeypore and Utkela.

She twitted “2nd airport of Odisha gets license today. Happy to inform the licensing of Jharsuguda airport today by  (DGCA). It will pave way for scheduled operations; soon to be followed by Rourkela, Jeypore & Utkela to place Odisha on fast track in civil aviation network.”

2nd airport of Odisha gets license today. Happy to inform the licensing of Jharsuguda airport today by DGCA. It will pave way for scheduled operations; soon to be followed by Rourkela, Jeypore & Utkela to place Odisha on fast track in civil aviation network. pic.twitter.com/mrqI1yLRTC

— Usha Padhee (@ushapadhee1996) May 4, 2018

Jharsuguda Airport  is located 5 kilometers north-east of Jharsuguda in western Odisha.The airfield was used during World War II by the RAF and other Allied Forces to counter Indian Freedom Fighters led by Subhas Chandra Bose . After India gained Independence from Allied Forces, the airfield was abandoned.

On November 2012 Air Odisha launched non-scheduled commercial flights between Rourkel , Jharsuguda and Bhubaneswar. It launched the experimental flight of a nine-seater aircraft of at Rourkela airport in the evening after being flagged off at Bhubaneswar, but the operations were shut down soon due to commercial reasons.

The State Government sanctioned Rs. 50 crore in July 2013 to kick-start the Rs 175-crore airport development project to be jointly executed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the State Government.

On 30 July 2014, Odisha government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Airport Authority of India for development of the state’s second airport at Jharsuguda.

The airport, which will be developed with an investment of 210 crore, will have facility to handle at least 300 passengers per day.