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MAHAKUMBH-2025 PREPARATIONS: Mega expansion of Prayagraj airport on cards
Efforts are being made to provide a fillip to services as well as airport’s passenger and flight handling capabilities, said officials.
PRAYAGRAJ In a bid to expand the Prayagraj Airport in the run-up to the mega once-in-12-year religious fair of Mahakumbh-2025, the Uttar Pradesh government has begun efforts to further increase flights from the district to different cities of the country.
To cater to this expected increased load of flights, efforts are being made to provide a fillip to services as well as airport’s passenger and flight handling capabilities, said officials. “There are currently no international flights from Prayagraj Airport but the government intends to expand it for international flights as well. A proposal has been sent to the Union aviation ministry to start flights from here to every part of the country before Mahakumbh-2025. After this, international flights can also be allowed here seeing that more facilities are being increased rapidly here,” said Uttar Pradesh civil aviation minister Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’.
Sharing further details, director of Prayagraj Airport, RR Pandey, said that currently 24 domestic flights operate from this airport to 12 cities. “The number of passengers travelling by air from here is increasing every day. Last year, 5,48,310 travelled by air from Prayagraj airport. In this way, the number of passengers is increasing every year by more than 1 lakh. In terms of the number of passengers, Prayagraj airport is already at the third position in the state after Lucknow and Varanasi,” he added.
Officials said that Prayagraj airport is being expanded to cater to the rising number of flights and passengers. Pandey said that the airport currently has space for four aircraft to stand simultaneously. The facility is now being increased to accommodate seven flights. This expansion will make it possible for more aircraft to fly to and from here, he added. The airport director said that the process of construction of another taxi way is also ongoing at the airport.
At present, the airport terminal has seating arrangements for a maximum of 300 passengers at a time. “Whenever there is movement of four planes within an hour, passengers face some incovenience. To address this, the departure area of the airport is also being expanded. The acquisition of more land next to the airport is also proposed for expansion,” added officials.
The airport now also has a night landing facility. According to the Airport Authority of India (AAI), ILS or Instrument Landing System is also ready here so that there is no technical problem in night landing. While the landing of scheduled flights is not happening during night hours, night landing of non-scheduled flights is taking place here. As soon as AAI allows it, this service will also start, officials further said.
