Nitish Kumar in-principle nod for Purnia civil enclave

PATNA: Chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar has given in-principle approval for construction of a civil enclave at Chunapur airbase in Purnia for commercial flight operations. Energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav informed the state assembly on Monday that the process for acquisition of additional land near the airbase would start soon.
The concept of running commercial operations from a defence airbase as in practise at Varanasi and Bhuj is called civil enclave in defence airport.A civil enclave is an area allotted at an airport belonging to the armed forces for usage of civil aircraft and civil aviation-related services.
“The state government and the civil aviation ministry have agreed to start commercial flight operations from the Chunapur airbase. The CM has also given in-principle nod for construction of a civil enclave for the same. The process of land acquisition will begin soon,” Yadav told the Lower House while replying to a question raised by Congress member Afaak Alam.
The Purnia airbase is proposed to be developed as a low cost airport under the Central government’s Udaan scheme. Regional air connectivity is one of the promises the Narendra Modi government made in its election manifesto in 2014. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech last year had also mentioned that around 160 unused or underused airstrips would be developed utilizing funds to the tune of Rs 50-100 crore per year.
According to sources, a civil enclave is proposed to be developed near the entrance gate at Chunapur airbase for starting civil aviation operations. Around 67 acres of land has been earmarked for developing the civil enclave. Based on decisions taken in the meeting of senior officials from the state government and the Union civil aviation ministry on November 16 last year, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Indian Air Force conducted a joint inspection of the Chunapur airbase on November 27.
Though the state government is keen on beginning commercial flight operations from Purnia, aviation experts are sceptical of its economic feasibility. “Spirit Air Private Limited, a regional airlines used to operate nine-seater chartered flights between Purnia and Kolkata a couple of years ago, but the services were stopped due to the low number of passengers. It is not economically feasible for an operator to run flights with less than 30% seat occupancy,” said a Patna-based aviation expert.