Rs 42cr infra boost for City airport

Bhubaneswar: Considering the increasing air traffic, the Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here is set for another makeover with major infrastructure overhaul in the form of a new technical block-cum-control tower and an additional hangar planned for this year.
The total investment is reported to be worth around Rs 42 crore and is expected to be completed by August this year. With this, the BPIA will move closer to rub the shoulders with other major international airports of the country.
“Presently, we have only one control tower which is insufficient to control the rising air traffic of the airport. The technical block is also too small and with operations set to increase construction of another tower was an absolute necessity,” said BPIA director Suresh Chandra Hota.
“For maintenance and upkeep of aircraft, an additional hangar worth `10.7 crore, which can even accommodate AB-320 aircraft, is also under construction,” he added.
According to the BPIA’s reports, over the last four years, the international and domestic flights have increased by 30 per cent and 33 per cent respectively. The report also projected an overall flight movement of 32,369 – a 39.7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase.
“This demands not only an advanced controlled setup but also an efficient manpower and planning. For this, we will be adding Control Navigation Surveillance (CNS) based control and guidance that will be operated by Air Traffic Management (ATM) officers,” Hota explained.
Stressing the sound mental health of ATM controllers, Hota also mentioned that the BPIA adopts a strict policy on their air traffic staff. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation mandates that ATM officers aged less than 40 would have their medical checkup once in four years, the officers below 50 years would be checked up once in two years and for those above 50 the medical checkup is conducted every year.
However, Hota has made checkups mandatory each year for his staff irrespective of the age category.
Speaking on other the projects, Hota also said the key challenge for the BPIA is to enhance the airport capacity within the existing infrastructure. “A methodology of identifying vehicles that can avail the recently announced cost-free parking on the premises lanes is being devised,” he said.