PATNA: Buoyed by unprecedented growth in air traffic at the city’s Jaya Prakash Narayan International airport (JPNI) in the last couple of years, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is working out strategies to better tap the growing flying capacity of people from Bihar.
In a recent letter to the Bihar chief secretary, AAI chairman V P Agrawal has requested the state government’s civil aviation department to intensely deliberate upon AAI’s expansion proposals of JPNI airport.
“During 2009-2010, the city airport had emerged number one in the country in terms of percentage growth of domestic passengers as well as domestic aircraft movement. AAI’s survey report for the year 2010-2011 is due to be declared soon and JPNI airport is most likely to once again notch number one spot this year too,” said a source.
According to the AAI figures, Patna airport handled over 5.52 lakh domestic passengers in 2009-10, which was 60.4% more than the corresponding figure of over 3.44 lakh passengers for 2008-09.
The AAI’s letter to Bihar government clearly mentions the traffic growth and the acute space constraints that it has to face.
“The space crunch is not only an obstacle in the way of increasing the number of airlines for providing more options to air travellers, but more seriously, it becomes an obstacle in the way of providing fliers amenities at the airport,” said a senior official.
Expansion of the existing city airport is extremely necessary. “Even if the state government is seriously considering the plan to set-up a new airport, the existing airport needs expansion. Construction of the new airport will take around five years. Till then, the existing airport will be unable to bear the burden of ever-rising air traffic growth at the JPNI airport,” sources said.
Due to space crunch, AAI authorities are unable to entertain requests from different airlines to launch air service from the state capital. Recently, AAI had to ignore requests from a private operator which wanted to launch Patna-Kathmandu flight, due to space crunch.
AAI’s letter has requested the government to consider shifting the state hangar, IAS Bhavan, and Bihar Flying Club which are adjacent to the airport so that the land could be used for a new terminal building. But the state government is yet to seriously consider the shifting of certain buildings used by it from their present location and make available the land for the new facility.
A team of the state’s civil aviation department has already visited the city airport to inspect its adjacent areas. “The government is ready to consider the possibility of providing land for the expansion of the existing airport,” said a senior government official.