Rourkela: Flight services at the Rourkela Airport, severely affected in the past due to some pressing problems, will likely become regular in a few days with four airport officials completing VFR training. The four officials completed their training in visual flight rules (VFR) January 16 and immediately underwent an assessment by a board specially constituted for the purpose.
After sustained pressure from all including the media, the most plaguing issue has been taken care of with the completion of the officials’ training. In all probability, the trained officials will be back here in a day or two. Currently, air connectivity has been stopped at Rourkela Airport till January 22.
Ever since Steel City got air connectivity, it has been witnessing frequent cancellations. The majority of the passengers who bought flight tickets would also purchase tickets for the night train, as an alternative arrangement, in case the flight gets cancelled. Now with the VFR trained personnel present in the air traffic control (ATC), no planes will be stopped from landing due to bad weather. “The VFR will help flights to land at 1,500 meter visibility,” said one AAI official. It is believed that the flight connectivity will resume from January 24. Reacting to this, president of Sachetan Nagarika Manch and former general secretary of Steel Executive Federation of India (SEFI) Bimal Bisi said, “I have already appealed to PM Modiji for bringing this airport under AAI so that its fortune will change. At least we can have regular flights to cities like Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi for which we have the potential.”
He further informed the masterplan of the airport, which was prepared by Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) and submitted to AAI, has the provision for the landing of A320 aircraft because then the length of the runway will increase to 2,500 metre with 45-metre width.”