All 5 aerobridges at Patna airport to be ready by Jan

Built at a cost of around ₹1,217 crore, the airport currently has two functional aerobridges, with the third awaiting regulatory clearance.

Patna’s Jay Prakash Narayan International (JPNI) airport was set to have all five aerobridges of its new integrated terminal building (NITB) operational by January 2026, airport officials said on Thursday. Built at a cost of around ₹1,217 crore, the NITB currently has two functional aerobridges, with the third awaiting regulatory clearance.

All 5 aerobridges at Patna airport to be ready by Jan

Airport director Chandra Pratap Dwivedi said the third aerobridge was ready and the fourth was under installation. “We are awaiting DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) clearance for commissioning the third aerobridge, for which permission was sought on December 8. Work on the fourth is progressing steadily,” he said.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is awaiting equipment from Chennai to begin work on the fifth aerobridge. “We plan to commission it by January. These additions will significantly enhance passenger convenience,” Dwivedi added.

When PM Modi inaugurated the new terminal on May 29, only one aerobridge was operational. The second became functional on November 15. While AAI headquarters had initially set a six-month timeline for the completion of the remaining four aerobridges, after the inauguration, Dwivedi was given a revised deadline of January 2026, with four to be ready by December 31. He took charge of the Patna airport on October 24.

Dwivedi’s predecessor, Krishna Mohan Nehra, who had accelerated key works to enable the PM inaugurate the new terminal before the Bihar election schedule was announced, was transferred to Agartala after a dispute involving a Union minister. The minister reportedly complained that Nehra did not receive him on the tarmac as he was occupied with security preparations for the PM’s visit, leading to a show cause notice and his subsequent transfer. Nehra, who hailed from Rajasthan, took charge of JPNI airport on April 1, but was transferred to the far north-eastern state in just over six months.

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10 IndiGo flights cancelled

IndiGo’s operational disruptions continued for the tenth consecutive day on Thursday, forcing the cancellation of five pairs of flights to and from Patna.

The cancelled flights included two pairs from Delhi (6E 6387/2163 and 6E 6549/6550), and one pair each from Bengaluru (6E 6451/6452), Hyderabad (6E 915/6683) and Chennai (6E 678/679).

Ten IndiGo flights were cancelled on Wednesday, while 22 were called off on Tuesday.