Birsa Munda Airport Explained

Birsa Munda Airport
Iata:IXR
Icao:VERC
Type:Public
Operator:Airports Authority of India
City-Served:Ranchi Metropolitan Region
Location:Hinoo, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Elevation-F:2,120
Elevation-M:646
Metric-Elev:y
Coordinates:23.3142°N 85.3217°W
Website:Birsa Munda Airport
Pushpin Map:India Jharkhand#India
Pushpin Relief:10
Pushpin Mapsize:250
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of airport in Jharkhand
Pushpin Label:IXR
Metric-Rwy:Y
R1-Number:13/31
R1-Length-F:9,016
R1-Length-M:2,748
R1-Surface:Asphalt
H1-Number:H1
H1-Length-F:63
H1-Length-M:19
H1-Surface:Asphalt
Stat1-Header:Passengers
Stat1-Data:2,577,406 (6.6%)
Stat-Year:April 2023 – March 2024
Stat2-Header:Aircraft movements
Stat2-Data:18,300 (2.6%)
Stat3-Header:Cargo tonnage
Stat3-Data:5,945 (8.8%)
Footnotes:Source: AAI[1] [2] [3]
Mapframe-Zoom:11
Mapframe:Yes

Birsa Munda Airport [4] [5] is a domestic airport serving Ranchi, the capital city of Jharkhand, India. It is named after the famous Indian tribal freedom fighter, Birsa Munda, and is currently managed by the Airports Authority of India.[6] The airport is located in Hinoo, approximately 5km (03miles) from the city center. The airport sprawls over an area of 1,568 acres.[7] The airport is used by more than 2.5 million passengers annually and is the 28th busiest airport in India.[8]

Terminals

Integrated terminal

The new integrated passenger terminal building at the airport was inaugurated by the then civil aviation minister Ajit Singh on 24 March 2013.[9]

The terminal building spreads over 19600m2 and was constructed at a cost of . It has four aerobridges and six escalators imported from China, Germany and Singapore. The terminal has a capacity to handle 500 domestic and 200 international passengers at a time.[10]

In March 2013, the tax on aviation turbine fuel sold at the airport was reduced from 20% to 4% to attract more airlines to the city. Overnight parking of aircraft at the airport was made free-of-charge to encourage airlines to schedule their aircraft to remain overnight, so that there may be more early-morning flights to the metro cities.[11] The Airports Authority of India also constructed three more parking bays, thereby making it the first tier-II airport in India to have eight aircraft parking bays.[12] [13] [14] Two new aerobridges were added to the terminal[15] and the runway was extended as well.[16] [17]

Cargo terminal

A new cargo terminal was inaugurated in February 2017 by the then Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Raghubar Das. The terminal can handle 50 metric tonnes (mT) of cargo everyday and is equipped with explosive trace detection equipment, cargo X-ray machines, hardware security machines, and CCTV cameras.[18] [19]

Expansion and Modernization

Though footfall of the passengers have gone up over the years, the airport is yet acquire an international tag for want of additional infrastructure like extended runway, runway strip extension, extra parking bays, an isolation bay, spacious terminal building and more aerobridges to qualify as international airport. Therefore signing of a long-pending Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Airport Authority of India & Jharkhand Government for transfer of 303.62 acre land taken place on 27 June 2022.

As per the MoU, a total of 303.62 acres of land will be transferred to the AAI by the State Government, of which 301.12 acres will be transferred in the first phase. Of the 301.12 acres, which has been acquired by the Government, 273.78 acres of land will be made available on lease for 30 years at the rate of Rs 1.00 per annum. The remaining 27.34 acres of land will be provided free of cost on the basis of ownership to replace it with 27.31 acres of land of the army.[20]

Deputy Secretary, Civil Aviation Division, Government of Jharkhand, Akhilesh Kumar Sinha & Airport Director, Birsa Munda Airport, KL Agrawal exchanged the signed deal for land transfer.

AAI officials said that a new terminal building, isolation bay, control tower, fire station, etc. will also be built on the additional land apart from expanding the runway to 3,655 metres from the existing 2,748 metres and widening the runway strip to 60 metres from the existing 45 metres. The necessary navigational aids, visual aids and ground lighting facilities will be upgraded for the operation of wide-body aircraft. Additional land near the airstrip would allow belly landing of aircraft in emergency situation.

Officials of the Civil Aviation Department said that the State Government would also expand its hangar on the Birsa Munda airport campus to facilitate parking of extra planes and helicopters.

Officials of the Airport Authority of India (AAI), Ranchi, said that the long-delayed plan of expansion of the airport got underway after the signing of agreement with the State Government on 27 June. “The agreement was due to be signed in 2008, but the issue lingered for long due to one pretext or the other,” said an officer.[21]

A new 35.45 meter high control tower was operationalised.[22]

Facilities

Runway

Runway at Birsa Munda Airport[23] !Runway Number!Length!Width!Approach Lights/ILS
13/312748m (9,016feet)45m (148feet)CAT I / CAT I

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Annexure III – Passenger Data. aai.aero. 20 April 2024.
  2. Web site: Annexure II – Aircraft Movement Data. aai.aero. 20 April 2024.
  3. Web site: Annexure IV – Freight Movement Data. aai.aero. 20 April 2024.
  4. Web site: Airline and Location Code Search. www.iata.org.
  5. Web site: Ranchi Birsa Munda on ch-aviation. ch-aviation.
  6. Web site: AAI Airport's . www.aai.aero.
  7. Web site: Ranchi Airport Information . . 17 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230329122610/https://www.aai.aero/en/node/92426 . 29 March 2023 . en . 24 February 2023 . dead.
  8. News: Ranjan . Mukesh . Ranchi Airport crosses 1 million mark of passengers . 2 February 2021 . The Pioneer . 6 April 2017 . en.
  9. News: New terminal at Ranchi airport to be inaugurated on Sunday . 9 August 2022 . The Times of India . 19 March 2013.
  10. News: 19 March 2013. New terminal at Ranchi airport to be inaugurated on Sunday. The Times of India. live. 7 May 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20200918163843/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/New-terminal-at-Ranchi-airport-to-be-inaugurated-on-Sunday/articleshow/19049560.cms. 18 September 2020.
  11. Web site: Mishra . Alok K N . Ranchi's double treat for flyers, airlines . https://web.archive.org/web/20130403021959/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-03-31/india/38162884_1_flights-atf-raipur-airport . dead . 3 April 2013 . 31 March 2013 . . 3 April 2013.
  12. News: Mishra . Alok K N . Ranchi airport to get 3 more parking bays . https://web.archive.org/web/20130419040839/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-01/ranchi/38188580_1_airport-director-r-r-runway-bays . dead . 19 April 2013 . 1 April 2013 . . 3 April 2013.
  13. News: Bisoee . Animesh . Birsa airport ready for more planes . 9 August 2022 . The Telegraph . 29 August 2019.
  14. News: Infra-boost to cater for increasing passenger flow to airport . 9 August 2022 . The Pioneer . 18 May 2018 . en.
  15. Web site: News for Airlines, Airports and the Aviation Industry | CAPA . Centreforaviation.com . 11 December 2017 . 16 June 2018.
  16. News: Chaudhury . Sumedha . Decks cleared for Birsa Munda airport expansion . 9 August 2022 . The Times of India . 2 November 2016.
  17. News: Mukesh . A.S.R.P. . Runway extension on radar . 9 August 2022 . The Telegraph . 17 January 2018.
  18. Web site: Cargo terminal for Ranchi airport ahead of business meet | Ranchi News . Times of India. 9 February 2017 . 4 November 2018.
  19. News: अब तक नहीं बदली कार्गो टर्मिलन की तस्वीर . 16 January 2021 . Dainik Jagran . 3 February 2018 . hi.
  20. Web site: Infra . Khabar . 29 June 2022 . After 'land' boost, Ranchi's Birsa Munda airport set to vie for int'l tag . 25 April 2023 . Khabar Infra . en-GB.
  21. Web site: 28 June 2022 . Ranchi Airport: बिरसा मुंडा एयरपोर्ट पर बढ़ेंगी सुविधाएं, 303 एकड़ में 100 करोड़ की लागत से होगा कायाकल्प . 25 April 2023 . News18 हिंदी . hi.
  22. News: Jha . Mithilesh . 7 June 2023 . birsa munda airport ranchi new control tower summer schedule . Prabhat Khabar . hi . 18 June 2024.
  23. Web site: Birsa Munda Airport of Ranchi gets Instrument Landing System . 26 April 2023 . ANI News . en.