Interview of Usha Padhee, Jt. Secretary, Ministry of Aviation
Jharsuguda : Jharsuguda got its licensed as the second airport in Odisha. It is known also known as the power house of Odisha. It is good that now there is a connectivity for five cities from VSS Airport, Jharsuguda, which is started under UDAN Scheme. I want to thank officials of Airport Authority of India, Airline operators and even the passengers of this region. After the start of airline services, we have analyzed that the Passenger’s load factor from VSS Airport, Jharsuguda for the cities i.e. Hyderabad, Kolkata and Delhi are very good and in coming days it will surely motivate airlines to start more services.
However, Mumbai sector which was already awarded to Jet Airways but due to some problem within jet airways it is not happening now. The main intention for the regional connectivity Scheme UDAN, is to create a regional hub , under which it has been connected to Bhubaneswar and nearby areas. Based on the commercial viability and demand, the airlines will plan their routes. I am sure that in future there will be more connectivity.
The infrastructural development of Rourkela, Utkela and Jeypore airports are going on . Our main aim is to get license for these airports and get �ready with all infrastructure. These airports have smaller air strips, where� bigger aircraft will not land. In few days, a separate bidding will be done for the small aircraft operators for the routes which was earlier awarded for these airports Jeypore, Utkela and Rourkela and were not operationalised. Now we will again go for bidding and would try to open the air connectivity soon for the airports.