Rourkela Airport Back in the Skies After Six Months with Daily Bhubaneswar Flight
Nine-seater plane ends Rourkela’s air isolation with state-backed Bhubaneswar service.
After an agonising six-month suspension that severed Rourkela’s scheduled commercial air link and forced residents and business travellers to rely on arduous road and rail journeys, the steel city’s airport roared back to life on Friday with the successful launch of a daily nine-seater flight to Bhubaneswar operated by regional carrier IndiaOne Air.
The resumption has been made possible through direct financial support from the Odisha government, structured as viability gap funding under the Centre’s UDAN scheme. IndiaOne Air, which specialises in connecting smaller cities with short-haul routes, deployed its Cessna 208 Caravan, a rugged single-engine aircraft already proven on routes linking Bhubaneswar with Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Cooch Behar, Jeypore, Utkela, Raipur and Visakhapatnam.
The abrupt withdrawal of Alliance Air’s larger 70-seater ATR-72 services in mid-July had plunged Rourkela into aviation darkness, citing internal operational challenges. Passengers faced journeys of over ten hours by road to reach Bhubaneswar or Kolkata. IndiaOne Air CEO Prem Kumar Garg stated that the airline stands ready to immediately launch direct Rourkela–Kolkata flights if the state government extends similar financial assistance, potentially restoring full connectivity within weeks.
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In a significant parallel move, the Odisha government formally approached the Union Civil Aviation Ministry in October to assume complete ownership and operational control of Rourkela Airport from its current custodian, the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), to enable long-term expansion and integration into the national civil aviation network.
During his visit to the city on November 19, Union Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy publicly confirmed that he has directed the SAIL chairman to expedite coordination with the Civil Aviation Ministry. Sources indicate the Centre has already signalled strong interest in taking over the strategically located airport, paving the way for infrastructure upgrades and sustained commercial operations beyond temporary compensatory measures.
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