Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a new airport in Jharsuguda last week. Jharsuguda is the second airport of Odisha after Bhubaneswar to become operational and the first one to provide necessary connectivity to Bhubaneswar, Raipur and Ranchi under RCS UDAN. The airport has been developed by the Airports Authority of India, in collaboration with Govt. of Odisha at an estimated cost of Rs.210 crores with a contribution of Rs. 75 crores from the state govt
Ganeshi Lal, Governor of Odisha; Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of the State; Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation, Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Jual Oram, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs were among those present on the occasion. Modi also flagged off the UDAN flight on Jharsuguda-Raipur sector.
In Odisha, other than Jharsuguda, three more airports, namely, Jeypore in Koraput District, Rourkela in Sundargarh District and Utkela in Kalahandi District are being developed to provide connectivity to remote and far flung areas of the coastal state. For revival and upgradation of these four airports within the state of Odisha, Rs. 370 Crores has been allocated under the Regional Connectivity Scheme.
Spread across over 1027.5 acres of land, the area of terminal Building of the airport is 4000 sqm. The airport has been developed for all weather operations including night operations for A-320 type of aircraft. With a 2390 metre-long runway, the airport will be able to park A-320 type aircraft.
The new airport at Jharsuguda will play a significant role in the development of Western Odisha and will give impetus to the growing tourism industry in the region.