Ranchi: After successful trial of landing and takeoff of a commercial flight on Tuesday, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) is set to announce the schedule for aeroplane operation from Deoghar in Jharkhand.
A 180-seater A320 flight of Indigo conducted the trial of landing and takeoff at the newly constructed airport at Deoghar—which is visited by lakhs of tourists from across the country and abroad during holy month Shawan of Hindu calendar every year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid foundation of the airport in 2018. Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren visited the airport and inspected the passengers’ facilities on June 6.
Earlier, Chairman of the AAI Sanjeev Kumar visited the airport and took stock of infrastructure of the airport on its completion. Officials said that Indigo and SpiceJet were told to conduct the trial run of flight operation from Deoghar International Airport, before making it open for commercial operation.
Coincidentally, Captain Gaurav Nishant, who conducted the maiden landing and takeoff of the Indigo airbus A320, happens to be a native of Chanddeeh village of Deoghar. His mother Saroj Kumari’s joy had no limit when she came to know about her son was flying the first aircraft over the town.
Nishant’s father Munnan Sanjay, who is the District Congress Committee president of Deoghar, also hoped that the religious township of Jharkhand would come up on the map of international flights soon.
Residents of Deoghar were quite excited to see the landing and takeoff of commercial aircraft from the town, saying that it added another feature to the city of Baba Baidhyanath Dhaam. This year, the month-long Shravani festival, which sees lakhs of pilgrims pouring in from different parts of the country and abroad, is scheduled to commence from July 24 after two year’s break due to Covid pandemic.
Airport manager Sandeep Dhingra said that the AAI would decide and announce the route map and flight schedule for Deoghar soon. “We have required number of staff to handle commercial flight operations,” said Dhingra.
Deoghar will be second airport in Jharkhand after Ranchi for being operational for commercial flights.
