Five more flights will soon become operational from Birsa Munda International Airport to improve air connectivity after its recommencement post the nationwide lockdown. On Thursday, the state transport and civil aviation department gave its nod for more flights following a proposal from Ranchi airport a month back.

Ranchi airport director Vinod Kumar Sharma confirmed the developments. “Finally, the state government gave its nod to start five more flights. Airports Authority of India (AAI) will soon finalize and announce the destinations,” he said.

Currently, 12 flights (24 to and fro) are flying from Ranchi to Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Mumbai. Sharma added that all are running to its full capacity and there was a need to increase flights in view of the increased demands.

“Before lockdown, we were operating about 32 odd flights to different places. Following the Unlock, it’s time to retain all the flights to improve air connectivity from Ranchi,” he said.

Airport sources said that the additional flights are unlikely to begin by Diwali, which is scheduled on November 14 but they are trying to make them operational by Chhath. “Hopefully, by Chhath we shall start five more flights to handle the festive rush. Also with the onset of tourist season, operators are unlikely to face any losses,” said another official.

Notably, as part of its mission to improve customer services, Ranchi airport from this month also introduced new parking rates to offer pocket-friendly options to park their vehicles while visiting the airport to drop or pick-up anyone.

The airport authority had introduced time-based rate slabs replacing the fixed rate which was in vogue earlier. For example, the rate for vehicle parking for the first one hour is now charged Rs 20, Rs 35 for two hours, and so on.

Ranchi airport was also rated first among 17 medium category airports across the country in terms in terms of customer satisfaction index survey conducted by the Airports Authority of India early this year, results of which were announced in the first week of October. Ranchi airport had scored 4.79 points out of a total of five points covering 33 parameters centered on the passenger facilities.