National capital Delhi is the favourite destination for flyers from the Jharkhand capital, followed by IT city Bangalore and eastern India’s biggest metro Calcutta, recent data from Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi, reveals.

Also, since 2014, passenger traffic from the Birsa airport has increased almost four-fold, from 6 lakh flyers to an estimated 22 lakh.

State transport and civil aviation department secretary Praveen Toppo said Ranchi had flights to almost all zones of the country.

“It is a good sign that since 2014, passenger flow at Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi has increased four-fold. It shows that the purchasing capacity of the state population has increased considerably in recent times. It is with this objective that we are giving more impetus in developing airports at Deoghar and Dhalbhumgarh,” he said.

The transport secretary said it was heartening that the number of flyers had shown a steady spurt in every passing year. “In 2014 there were only 11 flights carrying annually 6 lakh passengers from Birsa airport, in 2018 the number of flights is 30 with 22 lakh estimated flyers,” he added.

A break-up of Birsa air passengers in 2018-19 reveals nearly 45 per cent of passengers had gone to Delhi, 30 per cent to Bangalore, 15 per cent to Calcutta. Surprisingly, the country’s commercial capital Mumbai comes a distant fourth with only 7 per cent passengers. The number of flights here corresponds to this demand, with a whopping total of 13 flights a day from Ranchi to Delhi, followed by 10 to Bangalore.

Birsa airport director Pravat Ranjan Beuria added that they also had flights to Indore, Bhubaneswar, Raipur and Patna. “We are waiting to see if any aircraft operator evinces interest in Chennai,” he said.

Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Deepak Maroo said more people were open to the idea of flying owing to manifold needs, affordable tickets and a greater need to reach on time.

“People need to travel faster these days,” Maroo said, explaining why civil aviation was a sunrise sector in Jharkhand. “In the years to come, as the pace of life becomes faster and flight tickets get cheaper, even Dhalbhumgarh and Deoghar airports may see a rush of flyers.”

He added Delhi, as the national capital, was the obvious destination for a host of people for various reasons. Bangalore, he said, was a favourite destination for IT students, professionals and businessmen.

“Also, there is no other flight to any other southern city, say Chennai or Cochin. We have also written to Union civil aviation ministry and Ranchi airport officials to start flight services to Pune and Ahmedabad,” Maroo said.