Patna is benefited most by the introduction of a number of low-cost private airlines in the middle-level cities in the last couple of years. Though the Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport is riskiest as it has a very small run-way and witnessed an accident exactly a decade ago yet the number of passengers grew fastest among here as more people are opting for low-cost airlines.
In 2009-10 it emerged number one among 46 airports in the country in terms of percentage growth of domestic passengers as well as domestic aircraft movement.
It handled 552,542 domestic passengers in 2009-10, which was 60.4 per cent more than the corresponding figure of 344,446 passengers for 2008-09. Amritsar airport with a domestic passenger growth rate of 51.8 per cent during this period stood second. Dibrugarh in the North-East witnessed growth by 47.4 per cent.
Patna airport also fared well in terms of total number of passengers. It is now better than Port Blair, Varanasi, Bagdogra, Vadodara, Jammu, Raipur, Agartala, Chandigarh and Madurai airports.
Patna airport registered a 42.8 per cent growth in domestic aircraft movement during this period, which is the highest in the country. The airport handled 7,456 flights compared to 5,220 flights in 2008-09. Amritsar airport had a growth rate of 33.9 per cent to be followed by Jammu and Srinagar airports, both of which recorded a growth of 21.88 per cent in domestic aircraft movement.
Low-cost carriers like Kingfisher Red, Jet Konnect and IndiGo are offering daily flights to major destinations like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata making things easy for those opting for aerial routes.
It needs to be mentioned that low-cost carriers have first introducted their services in the metros a few years back, therefore, Patna has to compete with second-grade cities. With huge population and high migration from Bihar it was natural that the people of the state or of Bihari origin would take full advantage of this service.