A five-member team of Airports Authority of India (AAI), accompanied by state civil aviation director Captain S.K. Sinha, visited Bokaro on Tuesday to inspect the the airport and decide how to execute its expansion.

The AAI team - comprising Sudesh Sharma, Ganpati Das, Shantanu Pannikar, S.D. Tiwari and Ganesh Sharma - also explored the possibility of launching commercial flights from the steel town under the regional connectivity scheme UDAN.

The visitors, who reached Bokaro by a eight-seater plane from Ranchi, also held a meeting with officials of district administration and Bokaro Steel after an hour-long survey of the runway, hangar and other areas of the airport.

Bokaro DC R.M. Ray, additional collector Jugnu Minz and Bokaro Steel general manager Rajvir Singh discussed in detail various aspects of the expansion plan, including acquisition of extra land.

As per the Bokaro airport expansion plan, the area is to be increased from existing 210 acres to 500 acres and runway area from 5,200 feet to 8,000 feet.

"The AAI team accompanied by S.K. Sinha was here to explore the possibility of both expansion of the existing airport and also the possibility of launching commercial flights," the DC said.

"This was the first visit of the AAI team to take stock of the existing facilities at our airport," said Ray and added that an aerial survey of the airport might be done later.

"There is a strong possibility of launching commercial flights from Bokaro," Ray said but added that everything will depend on the AAI report.

State director of civil aviation Sinha said, "We are trying to launch flight services under the regional connectivity scheme from Bokaro and other cities of Jharkhand. Chief minister Raghubar Das is willing to start air services from all existing state airports and their capabilities are being assessed."

Sudesh Sharma, member of AAI team said, "Though existing facilities at the airport are satisfactory, various aspects, including the commercial viability of launching flights, will also be taken into account. We will also consult flight operators."

A survey of over 1,900 shopkeepers of Dundibagh market, adjacent to Bokaro airport, was done under the supervision of DC Ray on December 7, 2017, for their rehab.