Governor’s aircraft diverted due to low visibility at Rourkela, Odisha

ROURKELA: Governor Raghubar Das’s aircraft was unable to land at Rourkela due to poor visibility on Sunday, exposing the inadequacies at the city airport.

The aircraft circled the airport between 10 am and 10:30 am but had to return without landing.

Das was scheduled to visit Kendudihi village in the Lahunipada block to offer condolences to Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram following the death of Oram’s wife, Jhingia Oram. However, the landing denial due to visibility issues prevented the visit.

The Rourkela airport, which is operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) but owned by SAIL, is yet to address critical needs such as an Instrument Landing System (ILS) and night landing facilities for all-weather operations. Although there are plans to enhance the airport for Code 3C operations, these upgrades remain stalled. The airport has been operational under the RCS-UDAN initiative since January 7, 2023, with Alliance Air providing daily flights to Bhubaneswar and thrice-weekly flights to Kolkata. Despite these services, frequent cancellations continue to trouble passengers.

Sources said the airport’s full-fledged operations are unlikely until the AAI assumes complete ownership. However, the AAI has reportedly shown reluctance to invest in Rourkela due to the presence of the Jharsuguda airport.