IAF gives nod to expansion of Darbhanga airport

PATNA: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has given its nod to expansion of Darbhanga airport, for which the state government will acquire 78 acres of land, state IPRD and water resources minister Sanjay Kumar Jha said on Wednesday.
The IAF, in its letter addressed to Darbhanga district magistrate (DM) on Tuesday, has stated that state government may commence acquisition of 78 acres of civil land for Darbhanga airport outside the IAF station.
The Darbhanga airbase belongs to IAF and commercial flight operations commenced here from November 8 last year following construction of a temporary civil enclave over an area of 15,000 square feet.
Jha said after the expansion, total eight flights will be allowed to be parked at a time at Darbhanga airport as compared to two at present. He further said night-landing facility will also be possible following the airport expansion.
The minister said around 54 acres of land will be used for construction of a bigger terminal building and remaining 24 acres will be required for runway extension and other utilities, including installation of Instrument Landing System of category-1 (ILS, CAT-1). An ILS helps pilots at the time of landing as far as identifying the position of the runway at which the touchdown has to be made is concerned.
Jha attributed the developments to keen interest taken by CM Nitish Kumar. “CM Nitish wrote several letters to the civil aviation ministry for timely commencement of commercial flight operations, allowing more airlines to operate, commencing cargo and air ambulance facilities,” he told TOI.
Nitish had written a letter to aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri on December 23 last year, requesting more flights, development of permanent terminal amenities and naming the airport after Maithili poet Vidyapati. The CM also demanded construction of a permanent terminal building over there.
“The AAI had initially sought 31 acres of land for development of a civil enclave and other amenities. Later, they sought 78 acres of land for the airport’s expansion. Thereafter, Nitsh called a meeting to finalise the matter. Accordingly, a proposal was sent to IAF for the airport’s expansion over 78 acres of land and its nod came on Tuesday,” Jha said.
Darbhanga airport has a runway of 9000ft and two aprons. The airport is presently handling three flights of SpiceJet to Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai daily.
As per a tweet made by the airport on Wednesday, altogether 48,600 people travelled from Darbhanga airport in June by 189 flights operating to and from there during the same time.