TBM Staff - Mumbai The much-awaited Ram Mandir consecration ceremony today is posing a parking challenge, especially for chartered planes flying dignitaries and VVIPs.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath said 100 chartered planes are set to land in the newly-inaugurated Ayodhya airport on January 22. The Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhyadham (MVIAA), has received more than 40 requests for landing of chartered flights for the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ event.
The MVIAA has eight bays (aprons) capable of parking single-aisle 200-seater aircraft and smaller ones. However, it is anticipated that at least four parking slots will be occupied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aircraft.
Once India One lands, there won’t be any other planes at the Ayodhya airport. Only an important person can be accommodated here.
Ayodhya Airport is expected to witness unprecedented air traffic today at the ongoing ‘Pran Pratishtha’. Airport officials are reportedly adopting ‘Drop-and-move’ policy. To ensure systematic flow of flights, flights will be allocated tight time slots for both landing and take-off, which will necessitate efficient coordination to avoid congestion.
The flights will be allowed to land, de-board the dignitary in a particular time window, and then take off to the nearest airport to return only after the Prime Minister has left Ayodhya.
This is keeping in mind the limited parking facilities in Ayodhya.
News reports quote AAI sources saying a dozen airports within a 1,000 km range have been asked to share parking spaces where jets can have a night halt after dropping dignitaries in Ayodhya.
The report says AAI has strategically identified 12 airports across five states — UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, MP, and Uttarakhand — for parking of private and chartered jets.
Among the dozen alternatives proposed are Khajuraho, Jabalpur, Bhopal, Dehradun, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Varanasi, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Gaya, and Deoghar.
Reports have quoted Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport of Varanasi, airport director of receiving requests for 30 parking slots between Jan 21 and 23. However, LBSI Airport can accommodate 12 non-scheduled flights apart from 10 big and one small plane at a time.
A simple assessment of aerial distance, factoring in favourable conditions, reveal flight from Ayodhya to Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport, Lucknow will take 39 minutes.
The farthest will be flight from Ayodhya International Airport (AYJ) to Raja Bhoj Airport, Bhopal that will take 1 hour and 16 minutes.
