Birsa Munda Airport

Birsa Munda Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorAirports Authority of India
ServesRanchi Metropolitan Region
LocationHinoo, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Opened24 March 2013 (2013-03-24)
Elevation AMSL646 m / 2,120 ft
Coordinates23°18′51″N 085°19′18″E / 23.31417°N 85.32167°E / 23.31417; 85.32167
WebsiteBirsa Munda Airport
Maps
IXR
Location of airport in Jharkhand
IXR
IXR (India)
Interactive map of Birsa Munda Airport
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
13/31 2,748 9,016 Asphalt
Helipads
Number Length Surface
m ft
H1 19 63 Asphalt
Statistics (April 2024 – March 2025)
Passengers2,569,371 ( 0.3%)
Aircraft movements19,314 ( 5.5%)
Cargo tonnage6,662 ( 12.1%)
Source: AAI[1][2][3]

Birsa Munda Airport (IATA: IXR, ICAO: VERC)[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 5 km (3.1 mi) from the city center and sprawls over an area of 1,568 acres.[7] It is used by more than 2.5 million passengers annually and is the 29th-busiest airport in India.[8]

History

The Airport was built in the year 1941, by the British to serve the Royal Airforce, United Kingdom's Aerial Warfare Force. After Independence, in the year 1949, 546.25 acres of the airport was converted into a Civil Aerodrome.[9]

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.[10]

The terminal building spreads over 19,600 square metres (0.0196 km2) and was constructed at a cost of ₹138 crore (equivalent to ₹235 crore or US$28 million in 2023). 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.[11]

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.[12] 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.[13][14][15] Two new aerobridges were added to the terminal[15][16] and the runway was extended as well.[17][18]

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.[19][20]

Expansion and modernisation

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 and 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.[21]

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.[22]

A new 35.45 meter high control tower was operationalised.[23]

On 26 March 2025, a high-level meeting was conducted under the chairmanship of the Principal Secretary, Government of Jharkhand, to discuss the development of Birsa Munda Airport & Dhalbhumgarh Airport. Mrs. Nivedita Dubey, Regional Executive Director, Eastern Region, AAI, attended the meeting along with other senior officials of AAI.[24]

Facilities

Runway

Runway at Birsa Munda Airport[25]
Runway Number Length Width Approach Lights/ILS
13/31 2,748 m (9,016 ft) 45 m (148 ft) CAT I / CAT I

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Air India ExpressBengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad,[26] Mumbai
IndiGoAhmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Deoghar,[27] Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mangaluru,[28] Mumbai, Patna,[29] Pune

Accidents and incidents

  • 19 October 2011: A Dhruv owned by the Border Security Force (BSF), operated for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and mantained and operated by the Pawan Hans crashed 40 km (25 mi) from the Khakra village while en-route from Ranchi aerodrome to Chaibasa. The pilots, Captain Thomas and Captain S.P. Singh, and technician Manoj Soin was killed in the accident. It was the fourth Pawan Hans helicopter to crash within a year. The helicopter took off from 03:09 UTC and crashed after six minutes, around 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) from Ranchi. The airframe was lost in the post crash fire.[30][31]
  • 23 February 2026: A Beechcraft King Air C90 air ambulance (registration VT-AJV), operated by Redbird Airways Pvt Ltd, crashed in a dense forest near Simaria in Jharkhand's Chatra district. The aircraft had departed Birsa Munda Airport at 7:11 PM IST, bound for Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi for a medical evacuation. At 7:34 PM, after establishing contact with Kolkata ATC, the crew requested a route deviation due to severe weather and thunderstorms. Shortly thereafter, the aircraft lost radar and radio contact. All seven people on board were killed, including the pilot, co-pilot, a doctor, a paramedic, a 41-year-old burn patient, and two attendants. The DGCA and the AAIB have launched a formal investigation into the crash.[32][33]

Statistics

PassengersYearPassengersAnnual passenger traffic

See also

References

  1. ^ "Annexure III – Passenger Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 4 May 2025.
  2. ^ "Annexure II – Aircraft Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 4 May 2025.
  3. ^ "Annexure IV – Freight Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 4 May 2025.
  4. ^ "Airline and Location Code Search". www.iata.org.
  5. ^ "Ranchi Birsa Munda on ch-aviation". ch-aviation.
  6. ^ "AAI Airport's". www.aai.aero.
  7. ^ "Ranchi Airport Information". Airports Authority of India. 24 February 2023. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  8. ^ Ranjan, Mukesh (6 April 2017). "Ranchi Airport crosses 1 million mark of passengers". The Pioneer. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  9. ^ "When was Birsa Munda Airport established". www.examveda.com. Retrieved 10 July 2025.
  10. ^ "New terminal at Ranchi airport to be inaugurated on Sunday". The Times of India. 19 March 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  11. ^ "New terminal at Ranchi airport to be inaugurated on Sunday". The Times of India. 19 March 2013. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  12. ^ Mishra, Alok K N (31 March 2013). "Ranchi's double treat for flyers, airlines". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  13. ^ Mishra, Alok K N (1 April 2013). "Ranchi airport to get 3 more parking bays". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  14. ^ Bisoee, Animesh (29 August 2019). "Birsa airport ready for more planes". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Infra-boost to cater for increasing passenger flow to airport". The Pioneer. 18 May 2018. Archived from the original on 11 April 2023. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  16. ^ "News for Airlines, Airports and the Aviation Industry | CAPA". Centreforaviation.com. 11 December 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  17. ^ Chaudhury, Sumedha (2 November 2016). "Decks cleared for Birsa Munda airport expansion". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  18. ^ Mukesh, A.S.R.P. (17 January 2018). "Runway extension on radar". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  19. ^ "Cargo terminal for Ranchi airport ahead of business meet | Ranchi News". Times of India. 9 February 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  20. ^ "अब तक नहीं बदली कार्गो टर्मिलन की तस्वीर". Dainik Jagran (in Hindi). 3 February 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  21. ^ "After 'land' boost, Ranchi's Birsa Munda airport set to vie for int'l tag". Khabar Infra. 29 June 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  22. ^ "Ranchi Airport: बिरसा मुंडा एयरपोर्ट पर बढ़ेंगी सुविधाएं, 303 एकड़ में 100 करोड़ की लागत से होगा कायाकल्प". News18 हिंदी (in Hindi). 28 June 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  23. ^ Jha, Mithilesh (7 June 2023). "birsa munda airport ranchi new control tower summer schedule". Prabhat Khabar (in Hindi). Retrieved 18 June 2024.
  24. ^ "A high-level meeting was conducted under the chairmanship of the Principal Secretary, Govt. of Jharkhand, to discuss the development of Birsa Munda Airport and Dhalbhumgarh Airport". X. 26 March 2025. Retrieved 26 March 2025.
  25. ^ "Birsa Munda Airport of Ranchi gets Instrument Landing System". ANI News. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  26. ^ "New Hyd-Ranchi flights from March". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 February 2025.
  27. ^ "Indigo 1H23 Domestic Routes Addition Summary – 05Mar23". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  28. ^ "Ranchi to get direct flights to Lucknow, Bhubaneshwar". Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  29. ^ "Airport Movement Report" (PDF). Dgca.nic.in. 28 October 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
  30. ^ "BSF chopper Dhruv crashes in Ranchi, 3 killed". India Today. 19 October 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  31. ^ Ranter, Harro. "Accident HAL Dhruv VT-BSH, Wednesday 19 October 2011". aviation-safety.net. Archived from the original on 26 February 2026. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
  32. ^ "Ranchi-Delhi air ambulance, which crashed in Jharkhand, had 'requested deviation due to weather'". Hindustan Times. 24 February 2026. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  33. ^ "Jharkhand air ambulance crash: Victim's family took ₹8 lakh loan to hire chartered aircraft for his treatment". Business Today. 24 February 2026. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
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