Wait for flights just got longer for Amravati

PUNE: The airport at Amravati, over 500km from here, will not be ready for civil flight movement before at least another eight months even as airline operators have evinced interest in the facility as part of the Regional Connectivity Scheme's (RCS) second phase.

Officials of the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited (MADC) said that the airport is functional and currently caters to non-scheduled flights.

"The airport needs further development to operate as a full-fledged facility. It has a runway, but needs ATC and terminal building and other upgrade and repair work," a senior MADC official said.

"Another basic requirement is night landing facility. It will take another 7-8 months to get all these things in place," he told TOI on condition of anonymity.

Three Maharashtra airports, which are still to see flight operations after the first round of bidding as part of the central scheme, have yet again caught the eyes of airlines in its second phase. Solapur, Kolhapur and Ozar had seen biddings during the first round of the scheme, popularly known as UDAN, earlier this year.