International flights from Kushinagar in two months

LUCKNOW: International flights will take off in the next two months from the Kushinagar airport, a key itinerary in the Buddhist circuit, said chief minister Yogi Adityanath during a joint inspection of the project with Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri on Sunday.
The airport has been taken over by Airport Authority of India. Addressing reporters in Kushinagar, Yogi said the project built over 589 acre would boost tourism and development, besides augmenting employment.“Many countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, Singapore and Kampuchea sought direct air access to Kushinagar,” he said.

The district administration has already constructed a four-lane road leading to the airport and the CM underlined the need to fortify the airport with barbed wire along the boundary wall. “The state government would lend all possible help in construction of the airport,” said Yogi.
Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri said the Centre has sanctioned 18 air routes for UP and would develop other airports in the state.
Additional chief secretary, information, Awanish Awasthi said, the tarmac has been laid out and the terminal building is near completion. “It would be a big infrastructure project that would boost the Buddhist circuit,” he said. Yogi inspected the 3.2km airstrip of Kushinagar airport and held a review with AAI and district administration officials. The project was declared an international airport by the Union cabinet on June 24.
And a day after UP notched up the second slot in ease of doing business, the CM said, his government would continue to work to woo more investment. “Giving employment to skilled manpower would be the focus area as this would boost the investment climate,” said Awasthi.
The revenue department was doing its bit to provide relief to flood-hit areas. Awasthi said, 14 districts were affected by floods and government-run buses were plying smoothly. Till Saturday, at least 9.6 lakh people travelled in 5900 buses.
International flights from Lucknow and Varanasi are picking up pace, he said. In July, 47,372 people arrived by international flights as against 16,431 people in June and 3,425 people in May. Even in August 45,525 people arrived by international flights. In first week of September, over 5,000 passengers travelled on international flights. “They undergo medical check-up and institutional quarantine subsequently,” he said.