AAI to invest Rs 800-cr in terminal building at Patna airport

The much-awaited construction work of the new terminal building at Patna's Jai Prakash Narayan International airport is expected to commence from the early next fiscal.
The proposed terminal building, coming up at an investment of Rs 800 crore, once completed will raise the airport's passenger handling capacity to 4.5 million per annum with a peak hour capacity of 2,250 passengers and is expected to meet the growing traffic demand.
Patna airport is run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
"In order to meet the ever-increasing passenger traffic, AAI is now constructing a new state-of-the-art terminal building with passenger handling capacity of 4.5 million at the cost of Rs 800 crore. The construction work for the new terminal building will start from April, 2018, " AAI said today.

Originally designed to handle 0.7 million passengers, the Jai Prakash Narayan airport handled more than three times of its capacity at 2.11 million passengers in the previous fiscal.
The AAI also said it has decided to start round-the- clock operations from the March next year, which will allow it to operate flights even between 10 pm to 6 am, and thereby reduce congestion in the day-time.

Meanwhile, to meet the problem of congestion at the existing terminal building and security-hold area, the AAI has set up a temporary structure, outside the terminal building with a seating capacity of 300 passengers, it said.

Passengers are allowed to enter terminal building only two hours prior to their scheduled departure, it said adding a security frisking booth has been added in security check which is operational during peak hours.
The expansion work of the security hold area (SHA) will also be completed by March 2018, the AAI said.
Besides, an additional boarding gate will also be operational from February next year, it added, which will further reduce the congestion.
The AAI is also investing Rs 800 crore in constructing a new terminal building at civil enclave at Bihita air base some 30-odd kilometer from Patna, with a planned passenger handling capacity of five million, the release said.