Raxaul airport in Bihar next in line for commercial flights

After Purnia airport comes into operation in September, Bihar's Raxaul in East Champaran district is next in the pipeline to be developed as a civilian aerodrome for commercial flights, said senior government officials on Wednesday.

- Ruchir Kumar

“The Bihar government has approved 137 acres of additional land and also sanctioned an estimated Rs 209 crore (approx) for land acquisition to develop the Raxaul airport for commercial operations,” said chief secretary Amrit Lal Meena while talking to the Hindustan Times.

Land acquisition work is presently underway for the Raxaul airport and is expected to be completed in the next six months, said Meena.

The Raxaul airport is operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) but is not in use for commercial flights.

The AAI has conducted a pre-feasibility study to upgrade the airport to handle ATR-72 aircraft.

The Raxaul airport has been included in the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)-UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), which aims to improve air connectivity to underserved airports.

Six small airports in the state, including Madhubani, Saharsa, Birpur (Supaul), Valmikinagar (West Champaran), Munger and Muzaffarpur, are also being developed under the RCS.