Jamshedpur Airport snippets

Tata Steel and Tata Realty and Infrastructure (a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons) are entering into a joint venture to set up a greenfield airport at Jamshedpur. The new airport will have the capacity to allow commercial airliners such as the Airbus A320 to land and take off which will pave the way for airlines to connect Jamshedpur with the rest of the country.
Tata Steel is in the process of acquiring 600 acres of land at the outskirts of Jamshedpur to set up the new airport which will replace the small air strip presently being operated by Tata Steel. In 2007, Tata Steel had said it had located land at Adityapur in adjoining Saraikela-Kharswan district for an airport which will have a 7,000feet-long runway. However, the company hasn’t been able to make much progress with setting up the airport in the ensuing four years.
By roping in TRIL, the infrastructure development vehicle of the Tata group, which has a tie-up with Singapore’s Changi Airports International for non-metro airports, Tatas now hope to give the project the required momentum to move ahead.
At present the aerodrome in Sonari spread over 25 acres does not have the ability to accommodate aircraft larger than 60 seater turboprops.
As a result, no scheduled commercial airline can operate flights to Jamshedpur whose airstrip first opened in 1940.
Apart from Tata Steel, Jamshedpur is also home to Tata Motors’ first ever commercial vehicles factory and a number of ancillary units that support the maker of the Nano and the steel maker. Air connectivity is expected to boost the business prospects for all these units.
An airport with a good frequency of commercial flights will allow businessmen, students and relatives of residents to get in and out of Jamshedpur quickly. The Tatas have made an application for an in-principle approval for the new airport to the ministry of civil aviation. The application for the facility estimated to cost about several hundred crore is supported by a detailed project report.Engineering giant Larsen & Toubro carried out the technical feasibility for the proposed project.