Bokaro: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Monday directed Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) — which owns and maintains Bokaro airport — to initiate the process for obtaining an aerodrome license from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in order to commence commercial flight operations from March since AAI’s ongoing developmental work at the airport is expected to be done by then, officials said on Monday. As per DGCA rules, if flight operations are to begin from March, then the application for obtaining an aerodrome license needs to be submitted at least three months in advance.
Nearly 90% of AAI’s work in the airport is done and the rest is expected to be completed by March next year. On Monday, AAI’s Ranchi officials and BSL’s aviation department in-charge Laxmi Das, among others, held a meeting in the state capital to discuss on expediting the remaining construction work. Ranchi airport director Vinod Sharma, who was also part of the meeting, said, “The only tasks remaining now are constructing a boundary wall and cutting trees, which are already underway.” He added, “The work was delayed owing to the Covid-induced lockdown, otherwise the airport would have been ready by this December. We were already in the process of constructing the boundary wall and the forest department had even started felling the trees when the pandemic struck.”
Meanwhile, sources said that if all the documents submitted by BSL are in order, then the aerodrome license shall be issued within a period of three months from the date of application. Once issued, the license needs to be renewed every two years.