PM inaugurates civil enclave at Hindon airport

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday inaugurated the new civil enclave at Hindon airport from where commercial flights would be operated to various places, including Shimla and Kannur.

Hindon airport belongs to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has developed the civil enclave there.

Under the regional air connectivity scheme -- UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) -- many airline operators have bagged routes connecting from Hindon.

Flights would be operated to Nasik (Maharashtra), Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand), Kannur (Kerala), Hubli, Kalaburgi (Karnataka), Faizabad (Uttar Pradesh), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) and Jamnagar (Gujarat).

These UDAN flights would be operated from Hindon since there are infrastructure at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in the national capital which is also the busiest aerodrome in the country, according to the AAI.

Generally, civil enclaves are part of airports of armed forces that are used for commercial flights.

The civil enclave, which cost around Rs 40 crore, can handle 300 passengers during peak hours, as per the AAI.

The airport Infrastructure was developed by the AAI while the approach road was constructed by the state government.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu, among others, were present at the inaugural function, the AAI said in a release.