Odisha’s Jharsuguda Airport Among UDAN’s Busiest: Centre

New Delhi: The Veer Surendra Sai Airport in Jharsuguda, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September last year, has emerged as one of the busiest airports under the Centre’s flagship UDAN scheme.

According to a report released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Monday, Jharsuguda along with Belgaum, Prayagraj (Allahabad), Kishangarh and Hubli have recorded high passenger movement this year. These airports have emerged as the busiest in the country among all the airports who commenced services under UDAN scheme. About 35 lakh passengers have flown under UDAN, which seeks to connect unserved and under served regions in the country.

Jharsuguda airport now connects major destinations such as Delhi and Kolkata, besides Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad and Raipur.

As per Airport Authority of India (AAI), the airport handled 1796 flights between April and October this year and registered 1,17,052 passenger movements. In October alone, it saw 306 flight movements, up from 10 during the same month last year and handled 21,842 passengers.

AAI has now requested the Odisha government for additional land for airport expansion and upgradation of navigation facilities, according to news reports.