Air connectivity hope for Rourkela  

ROURKELA: Senior officials of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Air Alliance conducted a joint inspection of Rourkela airport on Friday to assess early implementation of Regional Connectivity Scheme-Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagarik (RCS-UDAN).

The inspection of the airport, owned by Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) of SAIL, was conducted by a nine-member AAI team led by executive director (engineering) S Sree Kumar. Officers of RCS-UDAN, planning, air traffic, engineering as well as electronics and communication were part of the team. The Air Alliance team led by Captain Naveen Garg consisted of officers of operations, flight safety and security. Former Union Minister and Sundargarh MP Jual Oram also joined the inspection team. Kumar said the inspection aimed to assess possibility of running 72-seat aircraft. 

A review meeting was also held with Sundargarh Collector Nikhil Pawan Kalyan and RSP executive director (personnel and administration) Rajvir Singh. Earlier on October 15, Principal Secretary of Odisha Commerce and Transport department Madhusudan Padhi had chaired a meeting on upgradation of the airport from ARC 2B to ARC-2C to allow operation of 72-seat aircraft.