Air Deccan: Coming to town?

Jamshedpur, Nov. 15: The steel city might soon soar high on Air Deccan wings.

Deccan Aviation, the company running the airlines, has not ruled out the possibility of starting air services in Jamshedpur.

Top sources of the company informed The Telegraph from Bangalore that Deccan Aviation had got in touch with different corporate houses in the city and are weighing the options before deciding upon starting flights from the city.

?If we receive adequate support from the corporate houses in the city and the adjoining areas of Singhbhum, Deccan Aviation does not have a problem in starting its services in the city,? a senior official of Deccan Aviation informed.

?We need the support of these corporate houses to assure that the service receives the right responses in the city,? he added.

The chief revenue officer of Deccan Aviation John Kuruvilla confirmed the company has sought suggestions from different companies in Jamshedpur about starting air services in the city.

?We are awaiting their responses after which we shall take a decision,? Kuruvilla added.

This news will surely put the business fraternity of the Singhbhum zone in good humour. Industrialists in the city had been clamouring for air connectivity for the past two years.

?The entire Singhbhum region is now the hub of industrial development. Mittals, Jindals, besides Essar and other companies, are going to establish their steel plants in this zone. It does not augur well for the officials of these companies if the region lacks air connectivity. Since Jamshedpur has an airport, we want flights to operate from the city only,? the industrialists said.

In the recent past, four industry associations ? Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Adityapur Small Industries Association, Singhbhum Industries Association and Laghu Udyog Bharti ? had jointly submitted a memorandum to the Union civil aviation ministry demanding air connectivity from the city to important destinations of the country, especially Calcutta.

?We are going to write to the ministry again with the same demand. We are also planning to meet chief minister Arjun Munda and request for his intervention to ensure that Jamshedpur is included on the air map of the country.

?With so many investment proposals lined up in the Singhbhum region, the investors would be handicapped without air links from the city. The state government has to play a proactive role on this issue,? A.K. Srivastava, the president of Singhbhum chamber, said.

Srivastava further said Tata Steel managing director B. Muthuraman, in a meeting with senior citizens, had discussed the issue of air connectivity some time back.

?We had requested Muthuraman to see to it that commercial flights start operating from the city. He had assured us that he would look into the matter,? Srivastava informed and expressed optimism that both the chief minister and the Tata Steel MD would come forward for the benefit of the industrialists and businessmen of the Singhbhum region.