The city of Ayodhya, which is home to the world’s largest Ram temple, will soon have its own international airport to connect it with major cities across the country. The Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram International Airport, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 9, 2023, is ready to receive its first flight from Delhi on December 30, 2023.
The airport, which covers an area of 821 acres, has a capacity to handle 500 passengers per hour and can accommodate eight Airbus A-320 aircraft at a time. The airport has two terminals: Terminal-1 for domestic flights and Terminal-2 for international flights. The airport also has a 2245-metre-long runway, an air traffic control tower, an isolation way, two taxiways, and a parking apron for three air buses.
The airport was built with the support of the central government and the Airport Authority of India (AAI), which spent Rs. 323 crore on the first phase of the project. The second phase will involve extending the runway up to 3,125 metres and constructing a second terminal on a 30,000 square metre area. The construction work is expected to be completed by July 2024.
The airport will be able to handle domestic flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and other cities in India. The first commercial flight operation at the airport will begin with the expected opening of the grand Ram temple in January 2024. The temple’s consecration ceremony is likely on January 22 next year.
IndiGo will be the first airline to operate from the Ayodhya airport, marking Ayodhya as its 86th domestic destination. The inaugural flight from Delhi to Ayodhya is scheduled to arrive on December 30. Other airlines are expected to join IndiGo soon and offer regular flights to Ayodhya.
The airport entry and exit will have four lanes that would be connected with Sultanpur road directly. The pillars and roof fabrications of Terminal-1 are being covered and bolted with glass reinforced concrete slabs, which look like Lord Ram temple structure.
The construction of the airport has been completed along with the Ram temple construction, after which Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will give licence for commercial operations. Airlines will set up their infrastructure to handle passenger and flight operations. We expect that by early first quarter of 2024, Ayodhya airport will connect cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai apart from Kolkata and national capital Delhi.
