Deoghar airport taxies to AAI table

New Delhi: After capital Ranchi and steel city Jamshedpur, temple town Deoghar is poised for take-off.
A senior Airports Authority of India (AAI) official said the AAI board would meet on December 15 to decide on flight feasibility from Deoghar in a follow-up to Union civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi’s announcement in Parliament.
On December 7, in a reply to Hazaribagh BJP MP Yashwant Sinha on modernisation of Birsa Munda Airport, the minister had said that though the priority was to complete the Ranchi project, Deoghar was also under consideration.
The Jharkhand cabinet has already agreed to a proposed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the AAI.
The draft MoU, a copy of which is with The Telegraph, says that the state will spend Rs 50 crore and the Planning Commission will grant Rs 300 crore for the project. First, infrastructure will be developed for ATR-72 aircraft and subsequently, A321-class aircraft will also start services. The airport will be run by the AAI on a long-term lease, for which the state will have to provide land for free.The AAI will bear all recurring costs for maintenance and operations and Jharkhand will handle or pay for security, including an anti-hijacking squad.
12/12/11 The Telegraph

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Categories: airports Dec 2011, New Dec 2011