Airport Authority of India to introduce new international airport in Odisha

Considering the rising air traffic in the country, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has proposed a new greenfield international airport in the state of Odisha. Because of certain limitations in the expansion of the Biju Patnaik International Airport, building a new airport is considerable to handle the potential surge in air traffic in the future.

Therefore, the AAI has asked the state government to identify suitable land for the development of the new airport. The approximate land requirement for the new project is around 1,500-2,000 acres. The preferred location is in the vicinity of Bhubaneswar. The proposed airport to be established within 20-30 km of Bhubaneswar and could be set up on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

“After the state government identifies the land, we will do the technical feasibility study”, said an AAI official. The present airport has no scope for expanding the existing runway, stretching up to 2,742 meters. Wide-bodied planes are unable to land at the city airport. The new airport would be equipped to handle jumbo jets like Boeing 777 and Boeing 747,” said the official.

Acting on the proposal of the AAI, the state government has urged its land acquisition agency Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) to intimate the availability of land. Meanwhile, the Odisha government has stepped up its efforts to locate a suitable site for the proposed project.

To attract foreign fliers, the state government had already reduced value-added tax (VAT) charge on aviation turbine fuel to zero for direct international flights from the state. However, despite the sop, the international airport has failed to attract operators, except Air Asia.

AirAsia, the low-cost airline has recently added Bhubaneswar to its list of destinations in India with four weekly direct flights from Kuala Lumpur.