Kushinagar Airport Inaugurated: UP to soon become only state in India with 5 international airports

PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Kushinagar Airport in Uttar Pradesh. The Kushinagar Airport is the third International Airport in the state and a direction in the making U.P. the only state in the country to have five international airports.

The Kushinagar International Airport is the third international airport apart from operational airports in Lucknow and Varanasi. While the Lucknow airport handles flights to international destinations like Middle Eastern countries including Oman, Kuwait, UAE among others; Varanasi Airport handles flights to Thailand, Nepal among others. 

The inaugural flight at the Kushinagar International Airport operated from Colombo, Sri Lanka carrying 125 dignitaries and Buddhist Monks. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was also part of the first international landing at the airport. Further flights will be announced to more international destinations. 

The Kushinagar Airport will give impetus to the religious tourism in the state, with Kushinagar being the Mahaparinirvan of Lord Buddha. Buddhist Pilgrims from across the globe, and more specifically from East Asia are likely to boost tourism in the state.

A huge influx from countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand, Japan, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore among other countries is expected once the airport is fully operational. As for the rest of the upcoming international airports, Uttar Pradesh will soon get airports in Noida and Ayodhya, giving an impetus to foreign trade and travel.

Here are the upcoming International Airports in UP-

Noida International Airport

The Jewar Green Field International Airport in Noida, now being named as the Noida International Airport will be an alternate airport in Delhi-NCR and is expected to share traffic with the operational Delhi International Airport, which is also the busiest airport in the country. 

CM Yogi has already termed the upcoming Noida International Airport as one of the most advanced and largest airports in the country, work on which has already begun and contract awarded to Swiss major Zurich Airport International (ZAI). 

One runway of the Noida international airport will be built during the first phase of construction with a focus on domestic traffic in the initial years. 

Ayodhya International Airport

Apart from the Noida Airport, work is already on to construct the Ayodhya International Airport, which is named Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram Airport in Ayodhya. A provision of 100 million rupees has been made for Ayodhya Airport and 377 acres of land has also been made available to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for the development of the airport.

While the airport was initially conceptualized under the UDAN scheme to facilitate domestic flights connecting Ayodhya to Hindan and other airports, the Chief Minister later modified the announcement and ordered to develop the airport for Code-E B777-300 type aircraft. This is the largest aircraft that is allowed to land anywhere in India and PM Modi himself flies in one of these new-age machines.