Jamshedpur: A six-member joint team from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) inspected the Sonari aerodrome on Sunday ahead of the proposed launch of Air Deccan's services from the city.
Simultaneously, a nine-member team of airline officials boarded a 19-seater Beechcraft 1900D aircraft from Calcutta and after test-landing in Sonari concluded that mushrooming of buildings on the south-eastern part of the aerodrome could cause a bit of a problem.
"The runway, besides being undulated in places, has electric poles and buildings on its south-eastern end," one of the Air Deccan officials said.
Sonari aerodrome has a 1,008-metre-long runway that is usually considered adequate for take-off and landing of a 19-seater plane.
The joint team later went to Dalbhumgarh in Ghatshila to inspect the abandoned airstrip there.
"The DGCA carried out the techno-physical inspection and a report is expected within 10 days. It will declare whether launching of a commercial flight service is feasible from Sonari aerodrome," East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Amit Kumar told the media.
He said the abandoned airstrip at Dalbhumgarh was more ideal for bigger aircraft, but there was some land dispute with the army. The dispute, however, is expected to be sorted out amicably.
"We are eager to start flight services from Jamshedpur. Once the nitty-gritty of the operational system is finalised and the DGCA gives its clearance, we shall start the service," Air Deccan president Captain Madhu K. Valsaraj, who was present during the inspection, said.
The inspection was carried out under the leadership of DGCA joint director J.S. Rawat and assistant director J. Shantanam. Tata Steel vice-president (corporate services) Sunil Bhaskaran was also present along with Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahto, East Singhbhum SSP Anoop Birtharay and Dhalbhum SDO Madhvi Mishra.
Flight services were introduced for the first time in the steel city by Kingfisher Airlines in 2007 followed by Air Deccan in 2015.
However, they had to be discontinued after the DGCA imposed load restrictions on the flights because of Sonari airport's short runway.
