In a major development from Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday flagged off the first Hisar-Ayodhya flight and laid the foundation stone for 410-crore second terminal of Maharaja Agrasen airport. Hitting out at the previously led UPA government, Modi said there were only 74 airports before 2014 and now over 150 under his tenure.
“Before 2014, there were 74 airports in the country, but today there are over 150 airports...Imagine 74 airports in 70 years?... Every year, there are record airline passengers in the country,” he said.
Let us take a look at the details regarding airport's development, key routes, MoU with alliance.
Maharaja Agrasen airport is located nearly 5 km northeast of Hisar city center on NH-9. It is part of Haryana's broader infrastructure development plan.
The airport's development is being carried out in different phases. The first phase, which included the construction of a state-of-the-art terminal building, has already been completed at a cost of ₹50 crore. In the second phase, a 3,000-metre-long runway has been built, making it possible for Airbus aircraft carrying up to 180 passengers to operate. In a view to boost tourism to religious and archaeological sites such as Agroha Dham and Agroha Mound respectively, airport was renamed Maharaja Agrasen International Airport after the Maharaja Agrasen by former Haryana CM ML Khattar on July 26, 2021.
Hisar - Ayodhya, two flights per week
Hisar - Jammu, three flights per week
Hisar - Ahmedabad, three flights per week
Hisar - Jaipur, three flights per week
Hisar - Chandigarh, three flights per week
According to Haryana CM Nayab Saini, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with Alliance Air on June 13, 2024 to begin air services to five cities, namely Ayodhya, Jammu, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad. He had added the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued the licence to Airport Authority Of India (AAI) on March 13 after it applied for a licence from the DGCA on January 23 this year, adding an Integrated Aviation Hub is being developed over 7,200 acres in Hisar, with 4,200 acres allocated for the airport and 3,000 acres for an Integrated Manufacturing Cluster, reports said.
Under the phase 2 development, PM Modi laid the foundation stone for 410-crore second terminal. It comprises construction of a 37, 390 square metre passenger terminal building, a 2,235 square-metre cargo terminal, with a new air traffic control tower. The second terminal is likely to be completed at an estimated cost of ₹413 crore and ready by April 17, 2027.
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