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Prayagraj airport becomes UP’s 3rd airport to cross million passenger mark
The new terminal was opened for passengers on January 1, 2019. Since then, till September 13 this year, the airport has catered to 10,05,955 passengers.
Less than three years since it became operational, the Bamrauli airport in Prayagraj has catered to over a million air passengers, becoming only the third airport in Uttar Pradesh (UP), after Lucknow and Varanasi to achieve this milestone, officials said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated this airport on December 16, 2018, weeks ahead of Kumbh-2019 but the new terminal was opened for passengers only on January 1, 2019. Since then, till September 13 this year, the airport has catered to 10,05,955 passengers.
During this period, more than 12,000 flights operated from the airport including flights of private chartered planes along with the major air service providers.
“The first wave of Covid lockdown from March 25 to May 24, 2020, hit flight operations. Covid second wave also witnessed relatively fewer flights in the month of May and June. Had the pandemic not occurred, the airport could have achieved the feat of crossing the mark of 10 lakh passengers eventually reached on September 8 in January itself,” officials said.
By August 31, the number of passengers travelling by air through the airport had touched 9.91 lakh and by September 7, the number reached 9,99,407 eventually crossing the 10 lakh mark on September 8.
Till September 13, the total passenger movement at Prayagraj Airport had touched 10.05 lakh, a senior Prayagraj airport official said.
Eleven flights are available from Prayagraj airport to 10 different cities. Flight to Delhi and Bilaspur is being operated by Air India’s Alliance Air. Private airline Indigo is operating direct flights for Bangalore, Pune, Raipur, Gorakhpur, Delhi, Mumbai, Dehradun, Bhopal and Bhubaneshwar.
“It was the dream of our PM that every common man should be able to afford air travel and the state government is fulfilling his dream. Till 2017, only 25 flights were operating from four airports in the state. Now, 73 flights are being operated regularly from eight airports of UP including Prayagraj. Soon Jewar, Ayodhya, Chitrakoot, Aligarh and Moradabad airports will also be included in the air service map”, said state minister of civil aviation Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’.
Photo Caption: Prayagraj airport at Bamrauli (HT File Photo)
