Deoghar Airport is a domestic airport serving

Deoghar Deoghar (pronounced ''Devaghar'') is a major city in Jharkhand, India. It is a holy sacred place of Hinduism. It is one of the 12 ''Jyotirlinga''s sites of Hinduism (Baidyanath Temple). The sacred temples of the city make this a place for pil ...

in the state of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is situated approximately 12 kilometres (7.4 mi) from the city centre. The airport has been primarily developed to serve the region of

North-Eastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

part of

and some districts of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

and

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

. It also caters millions of pilgrims of

Baidyanath Temple Vaidyanatha Jyotirlinga temple, also known as ''Baba Baidyanath dham'' and ''Baidyanath dham'' is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the most sacred abodes of Shiva. It is located in Deoghar in the Santhal Parganas division of the state of Jharkhan ...

across the country. It is spread over . The airport has a 2,500 meter long runway, capable of handling

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

, A321 and

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

type of aircraft.

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

laid the

foundation stone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

of development for the airport on 25 May 2018, and was inaugurated on 12 July 2022.

History

The

Government of Jharkhand The Government of Jharkhand also known as the State Government of Jharkhand, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Jharkhand and its 24 districts. It consists of an executive, led by the Gove ...

had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in 2013, to construct the airport, to promote religious tourism in the state. The Government later signed a tripartite MoU with the AAI and

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (IAST: ''Raksā Anūsandhān Evam Vikās Sangaṭhan'') is the premier agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, ...

(DRDO) in March 2017, to develop the airport for non-military use and for the operations of

and

C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 ...

category aircraft. The construction of the Airport was completed on 2022. The airport received its aerodrome license from Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India (DGCA) in April 2022, for regular use of the airport for flight operations, under public use category later on in 28 June 2022, the DGCA upgraded its aerodrome licence from 3C to 4C allowing commercial aircraft operations up to

Airbus 321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was the first derivative of the ba ...

and

. The first trial flight was done in June 2022, on Deoghar Airport by IndiGo from Kolkata before its commercial operations. On 12 July 2022, The airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister

. Scheduled commercial operation commenced on 12 June 2022 by

IndiGo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

on Deoghar- Kolkata route under RCS Udan Scheme.

Infrastructure

AAI has built the airport at a cost of ₹ 400 crore. It includes the construction of the runway, having a length of and wide, construction of a terminal building can handle 200 passengers per hour, an

Air Traffic Control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

(ATC) tower, an apron for two Airbus A320s/B737, taxiways and an isolation bay. The 4,000-square-metre terminal has a capacity to handle over five lakhs passenger annually. The terminal building has six check-in counters and two arrival belts with a peak hour handling capacity of 200 passengers. The design of the terminal building is inspired from the

's structure, and there are murals and paintings of

Adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The term ...

art, handicrafts and local tourist sites inside the airport. The airport runway is not equipped with

Instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

(ILS) and therefore is not capable for takeoff and landing at nights. A

DVOR Very high frequency omnirange station (VOR) is a type of short-range radio navigation system for aircraft, enabling aircraft with a receiving unit to determine its position and stay on course by receiving radio signals transmitted by a network ...

navigational facility is also planned. Construction commenced in January 2018 and was completed in May 2022. The adequate infrastructure and basic public facilities have been put in place in the terminal ensuring convenient and user-friendly experience for passengers thereby smooth flight operations from the airport.

UDAN Scheme

In April 2021,

was selected to operate flights from

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

and

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

, under the Government's Regional Connectivity Scheme called

UDAN ''Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik'' ( Hindi for "Let the common citizens of the country fly"), known by its acronym ''UDAN'' ( Hindi for "flight") is a regional airport development program of the Government of India and part of the Regional Connect ...

. For non RCS UDAN route, Flights for Delhi was started on 30 July 2022 and for other destinations that includes both

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and Bengaluru are expected to start in upcoming months.

Airlines and destinations

Gallery

File:Aerial view of Runway at Deoghar Airport.png, Aerial view of the runway File:ATC tower cum building at Deoghar Airport.png, ATC Tower complex File:Concourse area inside terminal building at Deoghar Airport.png, Concourse area File:X-ray machine and Security checks area inside terminal at Deoghar Airport.png, Security check-in area File:Baggage Conveyor belts at Deoghar Airport.png, Baggage claim area File:Boarding gate of terminal building at Deoghar Airport.png, Boarding gate File:Check-in Counters inside terminal of Deoghar Airport.png, Check-in couners

References