Rourkela airstrip was constructed by the Tata Iron and Steel Company in 1950's for the purpose of carrying officials of the company, who regularly visited the area to survey and supervise the transportation of dolomite and other minerals from the district of Sundargarh for their industry. Small planes used to fly daily between Rourkela and Jamshedpur carrying the officials between these two steel cities. But this airstrip was abandoned after sometime of use.

History

In 1961, this airport was taken by the Airports Authority of India (A.A.I) and a small aerodrome was constructed at the spot. With the construction of the new airport, Vayudoot planes started flying between the cities Ranchi and Kolkata via Rourkela. A Kolkata-Rourkela-Ranchi Vayudoot flight PF-715 used to fly daily between these three cities. Also another flight between Ranchi and Bhubaneswar via Rourkela used to operate in late 80's.

But in early 90's Vayudoot suffered heavy losses and it reduced its flights from 105 airports to just 45 airports, hence the air services to Rourkela were stopped. In 1994 the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) took control of the Rourkela Airport from A.A.I. thus halting the air services to the city. The Airport is still used by the SAIL to receive its private carriers.Now also some small planes take-off and land at this airport.

Airlines and destinations

No commercial services at this time.

Coordinates: 22°15′23″N 84°48′58″E / 22.2565°N 84.8160°E / 22.2565; 84.8160

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2010.
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