PM Modi responds to passenger from Bihar thanking him for fulfilling THIS 2014 promise

While responding to the post of the Twitter user, who shared a picture of himself boarding a flight from Darbhanga airport along with his father, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the government is working towards boosting connectivity. Taking to Twitter, PM Modi wrote, "Happy to know!. We are working towards boosting connectivity and comfort as far as the aviation sector is concerned." As for Darbhanga airport, it is becoming an important contributor to Bihar's progress, the Prime Minister added. 

PM Modi: 'Happy to know!'

Mukund Jha thanks PM for Darbhanga airport

This comes after President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha South Kolkata, Mukund Jha has tweeted that for the first time, he was boarding a flight with his father. Thanking PM Modi for giving airport to Darbhanga, Mukund had said that BJP in 2014 had promised to give airport and they kept that promise and built one airport. The aviation industry under BJP Government has developed with the brand, he added. 

Darbhanga Airport had become operational on November 8, 2020. With a capacity of about 200 passengers, the airport is also equipped with a child care room, baggage X-Ray machine and, conveyor belts. The airport has an apron built to park two AIRBUS-320 aircraft. The Darbhanga airport has benefited people from 17 districts of North Bihar.

According to the Airport Authority of India (AAI), a total of 301,513 flyers travelled to and from Darbhanga airport in 2,168 flights till July 15, 2021, since the commencement of flight operations in November last. Airport officials said that the daily average passengers’ footfall has now crossed 2,000-mark after the recent launch of daily flight operations on Hyderabad and Kolkata routes by IndiGo airline.

Earlier, SpiceJet was servicing Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmadabad and Kolkata routes. Meanwhile, the lowest number of flights and passengers’ footfall were recorded in January, possibly due to inclement weather and foggy conditions due to lack of instrument landing navigational support system.

Recently, the Indian Air Force (IAF), which owns this airport, granted a No Objection Certificate (NoC) for the acquisition of 78 acres of land for the construction of a permanent terminal building along with a navigation facility. However, AAI has requested IAF to hand over 2.43 acres of land adjoining the interim civil enclave to facilitate the movement of more flights for the time being. “We are yet to get a response in this regard”, said the official preferring anonymity.

(Image: PTI, Twitter-@I_Mukundjha)