Bhubaneswar: Very soon flight operation from Jeypore and Utkela airports will be started as decks are being cleared to make the two airports in the state operational at a meeting held between the State Government and Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Saturday.
“Development of Airports at Puri, Rourkela, Utkela & Jeypore discussed. Air connectivity under UDAN for Jeypore & Utkela will be finalised by @MoCA_GoI and State Govt shortly,” C & T Department tweeted.
The airports are Jeypore in Koraput district and Utkela in Kalahandi district are being supported under Central scheme UDAN. The State Government will seek licenses to make the two airports functional from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) this month, said an official.
The Government has planned to start flight operations in Bhubaneswar- Jeypore, Utkela-Raipur, Utkela-Bhubaneswar routes, for which a bid has been invited, the official said.
Very soon, the technical team of DGCA will visit the two airports to see whether all compliance has been made to start operations, he added.
Under the UDAN scheme, the Centre will provide 80 per cent of the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) or subsidy to be given to the operator while the State will bear 20 per cent.
Besides, the state government has developed required infrastructure at the airports and will provide other supports like deployment of fire personnel, power & water supply, etc.
Apart from the two airports, the officials have also discussed development of airports at Rourkela and Puri. The airport at Rourkela will be a bigger size than Jeypore & Utkela airports. Process is also started to make the airport in steel city functional.
For an international airport at Puri, a team of officials of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) conducted a pre-feasibility study. They have visited the proposed location Sipasarubali to assess the land required for the proposed international airport.
On New Year’s Day this year, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposing to set up an international airport at Puri in the name of Sri Jagannath International Airport.