Darbhanga airport to getnew arrival terminal bldg

Patna: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has handed over the Ministry of Defence land at seven locations, including Darbhanga, to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to allow the expansion of civil aviation infrastructure under the Centre’s Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) — UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik).
It has facilitated working permission to utilize the existing IAF airfields to create more area in the existing terminals and other facilities to accommodate enhanced number of passengers, flights and cargo facilities, the officials said.Darbhanga airport will get additional 2.42 acres of land for the expansion of interim terminal building to handle more passengers during the peak hours.
Darbhanga airport director Manish Kumar told TOI on Monday that plans are afoot to construct a separate arrival terminal with conveyor belt on the additional land of 2.42 acre. “The existing terminal building is not able to handle the daily footfall of passengers due to space constraint. So, the decision has been taken to shift the arrival operations to the new building to be constructed on the IAF land. Departure operations will continue from the existing terminal and more space will be given for security hold area (SHA) and other passenger amenities,” he said.
He added, “The decision will help us reduce the congestion in the SHA. The AAI headquarters is making the layout for segregated departure and arrival areas. The passenger holding capacity will also be doubled in the departure terminal building. Presently, we can accommodate 300 passengers in the peak hours. The work will begin as soon as we get the AAI nod.”
The airport is also expecting to get 78 acres of land from the state government, including 54 acres for the permanent civil enclave-terminal building, cargo complex, multi-level car parking, fire station and other infrastructure and 24 acres for the installation of category 1 instrument landing system (ILS) and runway extension at Darbhanga airport. The land acquisition was already in the process and it is likely to get the land by next month.
AAI project in-charge G K Chandana said the detailed project report and layout for the new civil enclave will be made once the AAI will get the land from the state government. “As per the initial plans, the terminal building will be of two-storey including ground level for arrival and first floor for departure,” he said.
The flight operation time at Darbhanga airport has also increased from six hours (10.45am to 4.45pm) a day to eight hours (9am to 5pm). The officials said the number of flights has not increased but they have streamlines the aircrafts, giving them more time for their stay. “Due to the increase in watch hours of flight operations, we are able to give 45-50 minutes time for aircraft for layover,” the officials said.
Darbhanga airport has so far handled 9 lakh passengers since the flight operation begin. The airport is presently handling 10 aircrafts a day while the average footfall is 2,400-2,600.