A sincere plea for resumption of air connectivity in Jamshedpur

By A K Srivastava

The citizens of Jamshedpur were very happy to learn that the Air India has been bought back by Tata Sons. The legacy of Mr JRD Tata, who founded the airline as Tata Airline way back in 1932 and which was re-christened as Air India in 1946, has finally come back to its parent organisation after 70 years. As I write this email every close to the auspicious occasion of Mahashivratri, it also echoes in the history of the Air India that the first jet aircraft, Boeing 707, inducted in the Air India service, was also named Gauri Shankar. Numerous firsts were achieved by Air India under the deft leadership of the legendary JRD Tata.

With the acquisition of Air India by the Tatas’, the citizens of Jamshedpur have revived hopes of getting direct air connectivity to other cities. Jamshedpur, even though being an important industrial town, does not have direct air connectivity. This is impeding its growth. The importance of having an airport for the growth of the city was included in the Adityapur Master Plan of 1970-‘71. However due to unknown  reasons it was not implemented. Later, it came to be known that government was considering acquiring land between Kandra and Chandil for Airport purpose. Its status is still not known. The government of India had announced that the Dhalbhumgarh airstrip would be modified for present day aviation. The airstrip was used by the Indian Air Force during World War –II. The progress of converting the Dhalbhumgarh air strip for flights, unfortunately, is very slow.

The citizens of Jamshedpur take great pride in its history. It is the only city which is named after the founder of the Tata group, the iconic JN Tata. It is very unfortunate that such a beautiful and progressive city still does not have direct air connectivity. Many small and little known towns now boast of air connectivity. I would like to bring to your notice that in the past, ATR aircraft of Deccan, Vayudoot and Kingfisher used to operate from Jamshedpur linking nearby cities of Ranchi and Kolkata. I believe, it was not very successful since the ticket cost was very steep. MDLR had started direct flights from Jamshedpur to Delhi, Chandigarh and Ranchi. However, due to technical or commercial or both reasons, the airline operator shut shop and together with it, the air connectivity from Jamshedpur came to an abrupt end.

The length of the airstrip of the existing airport at Jamshedpur has a limitation due to which it is difficult to land Boeing and other big aircrafts. Under the situation and keeping the constraints in focus, the citizens of Jamshedpur request that your  good office may consider submitting our following request to the Chairman, Tata Sons with regard to Airport facility.

Tata Group operates four airlines namely Air India, Vistara, Air Asia and Singapore Airlines. The airline management can consider operating a ATR or smaller flight from Jamshedpur linking it to the airline at Ranchi or Kolkata airport. The luggage can be inboarded for the destination at Jamshedpur itself to save space. In case of missed flight, interoperability of passengers within the purview of the four airlines may be permitted if vacancy exists.  Such a move will also improve seat load factor as well as miss- connect quota. The airline may consider exploring its commercial viability.

In case it is not feasible to operate ATR or smaller airplanes from Jamshedpur, then  an airport bus service can be considered. Boarding pass and baggage inboarding to the destination can be considered from Jamshedpur itself. Availability of this service will ensure that people can return to Jamshedpur from Ranchi/ Kolkata at fixed intervals and need not have to stay at Ranchi/Kolkata.  Such a facility will help the citizens of Jamshedpur to plan a day’s schedule and return to Jamshedpur at night. 

Jamshedpur Citizens Forum, on behalf of the citizens of Jamshedpur, humbly appeal to you to kindly submit our proposal for the kind consideration of the Chairman Tata Sons. I am sure that with more quantifiable operational inputs for commercial viability, it would be a profitable solution for all the airlines and thus add to the joy of Jamshedpur citizens. Jamshedpur.

A K Srivastava is Chairman, Jamshedpur’s Citizens Forum