AAI Sanctions INR 242 Crore for Ayodhya Airport

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has sanctioned Rs 242 Crore for the development of a state-of-the-art Airport in Ayodhya, Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh on 9th March 2021.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on sanctioning the budget said, Ayodhya Airport will “hugely benefit” visitors and pilgrims.

Ayodhya Airport and Related Development

Ayodhya Airport is the expansion of an existing airstrip at Faizabad. Central Government has selected Ayodhya airstrip under UDAN-RCS*.

Ayodhya Airport would be renamed Maryada Purshotam Shriram Airport. Recently, in the Uttar Pradesh State Assembly budget 2021-22, a provision of Rs 101 crore had been made for the development of Ayodhya Airport.

Also, in February 2021 Central Government allocated about Rs 1,000 Crore to the District Administration towards building of Ayodhya Airport. Out of this, the Central Government has already disbursed Rs 250 Crore.

For the first phase of Airport development Uttar Pradesh Government has made around 270 acres of land available. For the second phase, additional land of 558 acres is being acquired by the State Government.

The proposed Airport in Ayodhya is expected to become functional early next year.

According to the plan ATR 72** aircraft operations will begin in the first phase.

**ATR 72 is a twin-turboprop passenger and freighter aircraft developed and manufactured by Avions de Transport Regional (ATR), France.

*UDAN-Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), is a regional Airport development scheme of Government of India, with the objective of “letting the common citizen of the country fly”.