Raipur, Patna, Ranchi airports to operate on 24-hr basis from 2018: AAI

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday said airports at Raipur, Patna, Ranchi and Guwahati will be operated round-the-clock from next year.

According to Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairman of the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI), these four airports have all the facilities for 24-hour operations, including the one required for night landing.

"These airports have all the facilities needed for 24-hour operations... However, due to low traffic to these airports, their operational hours were restricted," Mohapatra told reporters here.

"Now with exponential growth being seen at these airports... we have decided to operate them round-the-clock. Airlines have also shown interest in operating to these airports during night time and may add late night flights to these airports."

Mohapatra said that the state-run firm was ascertaining the increased manpower requirements to operate these airports on a 24-hour basis.

"We plan to operate these airports on a 24-hour basis from April, 2018 onwards," he added.

Currently, AAI has a total of over 125 airports in its portfolio, out of which around 30 are operated on 24-hour basis.