Jamshedpur, April 22: Air Deccan will launch flights in Ranchi and Jamshedpur in the next couple of months.

Sources at Air Deccan?s headquarters in Bangalore said a high-level team from the private sector airlines company will conduct a survey at the airports in Jamshedpur and Ranchi at the end of this month. According to Air Deccan officials, the planning department of the company has already initiated the process of preparing air route charts for Jharkhand. The charts would be sent to the director-general of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for approval.

A senior official of Air Deccan said the survey team will hold discussions with Tata Steel?s aviation department and officials of Airport Authority of India (AAI) during their visit.

The airlines company has already written to the director AAI, Ranchi, seeking details of space available at the Birsa Munda airport to launch operations. ?We are optimistic about introducing our services in Jharkhand connecting the state capital and the steel city to Patna and Calcutta in the eastern region. The final logistics would be worked out only after the survey work is completed,? said the official, adding that the company has initiated the process of procuring six new aircraft, which will be added to its existing fleet by May.

Officials of Air Deccan?s Corporate Communications said the company has already taken up the issue with the directorate-general of civil aviation. They are chalking out plans to enhance facilities in Ranchi and Jamshedpur with the AAI, which is necessary before launching the service.

Sources in the state?s civil aviation department said Air Deccan had two rounds of talks with the state government and Tata Steel management to operate in Jharkhand. ?We are hopeful of establishing an air link between Ranchi-Jamshedpur-Calcutta-Patna by June,? said an official of the state civil aviation department. Last year in September, chief minister Arjun Munda, while interacting with top industrialists from across the country who had come here to attend national council meeting of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), had declared that the government will sign an agreement with Air Deccan to introduce its services in Jharkhand.

The Bangalore-based private airlines company recently introduced flights between Mumbai to Delhi, Bhopal to Jabalpur and Agra to Jaipur covering the western and northern sector of the country.