Quote:Odisha Government writes to AAI for upgradation of Rourkela airport

The development comes in wake of the recent meeting between Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.

Express News Service
Updated on:
17 Feb 2025, 9:29 pm
2 min read

ROURKELA: The Transport department has sent a proposal to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to upgrade Rourkela airport for 4C 1 CAT IFR operation.

The development comes in wake of the recent meeting between Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.

In a letter to AAI chairman Vipin Kumar dated February 15, principal secretary to Commerce and Transport department Usha Padhee said the government of Odisha has proposed to upgrade the Rourkela airport of SAIL suitable for 4C CAT 1 IFR operation considering the growth of the city. In this regard, basic details were worked out by the Directorate of Aviation.

Padhee said it is requested to kindly design a master plan and conduct an OLS survey based on the proposed master plan. The cost involved in preparation of master plan and OLS survey would be borne by the state government.

The proposed master plan envisages expansion of the runway to 2,700 metre in length and 45 metre in width with doppler very high frequency omni range (DVOR) and CAT 1 ILS for operation of big body aircraft like Airbus 320/B737 during day and night.

AAI defines CAT 1 operation as a precision instrument approach and landing with a decision height not lower than 60 m (200 ft) and with either a visibility not less than 800 m or a runway visual range not less than 550 m. The expansion of the airport requires 278 acre of land of SAIL and 44 acre of private land.

Last Saturday, Jual had a long meeting with the CM in presence of additional chief secretary NB Dhal and principal secretaries of five departments including Revenue and Disaster Management, Industries and Transport.

In a post on X, Jual said he had a productive meeting with the CM and senior officials, focusing on development of Rourkela airport and expansion of RSP. The discussion centered on strengthening infrastructure, enhancing connectivity and accelerating regional growth.

During the two-hour-long meeting, Jual reportedly apprised the CM about the urgent need for removing land hurdles for expeditious implementation of both the key expansion plans.

For expansion of Rourkela airport, SAIL has to surrender its land to the state government. The expansion of RSP from the present 4.5 MTPA to 9.30 MTPA has been stalled as the earmarked 1,200 acre of SAIL land is under encroachment.

Quote:Odisha: Rourkela Airport on fast track upgrade to match operational capacity of Biju Patnaik International Airport

... The Odisha government has submitted a proposal in this regard to the Airport Authority of India that includes a master plan and an Obstacle Limitation Surfaces (OLS) survey to guide expansion efforts of the Rourkela Airport.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, who chaired a high-level meeting at Bhubaneswar, told Akashvani News that the goal is to secure a 4C licence for Rourkela Airport that will allow flights to land safely at night. He said land acquisition for upgradation of the Airport will be taken up shortly and it will boost connectivity and create new economic opportunities for the steel city Rourkela coming under his parliamentary constituency Sundergarh. As part of the upgrade, the runway will be extended to 2,700 meters in length and 45 meters in width. Additionally, advanced navigation systems like Doppler Very High-Frequency Omni Range (DVOR) and CAT 1 Instrument Landing System (ILS) will be installed, the Union Minister added. He said these enhancements will allow larger aircraft, such as Airbus A320 and Boeing 737, to operate both during the day and at night. Flight operations at Rourkela airport started in January of 2023 under the Udaan scheme.

Quote:Rourkela airport expansion plan begins to take shape

Plan for code 4C upgrade discussed with Centre and SAIL; expansion may require large-scale land acquisition and relocation of over 1,500 quarters

press News Service
Updated on:
15 Apr 2026, 9:21 pm
2 min read

ROURKELA: The state government has intensified efforts for total takeover of Rourkela airport by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) from the ownership of RSP of SAIL and upgrade it for code 4C operation to operate big body aircraft.

Last week, a high-level meeting of top government officials and SAIL authorities on expansion of the Rourkela airport was held at Bhubaneswar. Official sources said expeditious expansion of both the RSP and Rourkela airport were discussed at the meeting. The house insisted on removal of land hurdles and other bottlenecks for these two key projects of Rourkela.

Held on last Friday, the meeting was attended by Union Steel secretary Sandeep Poundrik, joint secretary Abhijit Narendra, acting SAIL chairman KK Singh, RSP director-in-charge Alok Verma and executive director (HR) Tarun Mishra along with Odisha chief secretary Anu Garg, development commissioner DK Singh and additional chief secretary of Industries department Hemant Sharma.

Rourkela airport in its present form is spread over around 140 acres of leasehold land and carries commercial licence for code 2C operation to run ATR-72 type aircraft. In a letter to the collector in March, the RSP had showed willingness to transfer the airport to AAI and claimed compensatory cost.

A differential global position system (DGPS) survey for expansion of the airport was conducted recently. Sources privy with the expansion plan said the new airport boundary would be in shape of a cricket bat with the bottom half starting near Chhend Colony and continuing till half of the Sector 17 cricket field in the east in the shape of a bat handle.

The length of the boundary from east to west would be around 4.6 km, while the width of the airport from south to north would be around 300 metre, further narrowing down to around 70 metre towards Sector 17 side.

RSP sources said about 1,500 quarters and other structures including the Delhi Public School, Sector 15 police station and four religious places of worships in Sectors 13, 14, 15 and 17 would be demolished as per the expansion plan and around 25,000 tress are estimated to be felled.

An additional 278 acres of RSP and 44 acres of private land are required for expansion of Rourkela. Sundargarh collector Subhankar Mohapatra said the valuation of the existing airport has been completed. After handing it over to AAI, the government would take further decision.

He said in the next phase, valuation of RSP land and structures required for the expansion would be taken up for handing over additional land to the AAI.