Patna airport handled 22.66L flyers in 9 mths

Patna: The Jayaprakash Narayan International (JPNI) Airport at Patna witnessed a growth of 48.8% in passenger flow in the first three quarters of the ongoing fiscal 2017-18. The growth percentage was 29.9% during the corresponding period in 2016-17.
Compared with the country's other main airports, Patna ranked sixth in terms of percentage increase in passengers' flow during the period this fiscal. Last year. it ranked eighth.

According to an Airports Authority of India (AAI) report, the Patna airport handled 22,66,593 passengers between April and December in 2017, whereas the figure for the corresponding period last year stood at 15,23,395.

In terms of monthly passenger movement, the Patna airport handled 2,42,025 passengers in December 2017 as against 1,32,292 in December 2016.

Patna airport authorities attributed the growth to increase in the number of flights and low airfare. "The number of flights operating from the Patna airport went up from 10 in the year 2012-13 to 36 at present. The airfares have also come down recently. Also, there's a large floating population in Bihar, which keeps flying in and out of Patna," JPNI director Rajendra Singh Lahauria told TOI on Monday.

The number of flights is set to further up to 51 with the commencement of 24x7 operations from the city airport from March 25. New direct flights to cities, including Chandigarh, Indore, Ahmedabad and Guwahati, are also proposed to operate from the Patna airport as part of the round-the-clock schedule.

According to sources, the number of flyers using the city airport's terminal building every day averages around 7,000, whereas the seating capacity in the Passengers Holding Area is not more than 1,000. The state government and the AAI are working on a proposal for its expansion.

Work on the development of a new terminal building at a cost of Rs 800 crore will begin in April. According to the detailed project report prepared by Singapore-based firm Meinhardt (Singapore) Pte Ltd, the new terminal building will be a two-storey structure equipped with six aerobridges and other state- of-the-art facilities.

There are four aprons at the city airport at present, and it is proposed to be increased to 10.