Darbhanga airport in Bihar has earned a profit of ₹2.10 crore in fiscal 2021-22 while the state’s other two airports, in Gaya and Patna, ran into losses during the same period, according to official data revealed on Monday.
In reply to a question by Neeraj Dangi, a Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan, on state/UT wise loss/profit making airports owned and operated by Airport Authority of India (AAI), union minister of state for civil aviation Gen V K Singh (retired) on Monday furnished the data for the last three financial years in Parliament.
A scrutiny of the data furnished reveals that Darbhanga airport earned a profit of ₹2.10 crore while Gaya airport incurred a loss of ₹14.32 crore during financial year 2021-22 and Patna airport ran into a loss of ₹41 lakh during the same period.
Meanwhile, airport director (APD) at Darbhanga, Satyendra Jha, said work on further expansion of terminal building was under way and was expected to be completed by August 31 this year.
“This will double the present peak-hour passenger capacity at the airport,” Jha said.
The civil aviation facility from Darbhanga airport was launched under regional connectivity scheme (RCS) of the union government on November 8, 2020.
Low-cost carrier Spice Jet was granted licence to operate on three sectors, namely Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai, under the scheme. Later, IndiGo also launched flight service from Darbhanga to Kolkata and Hyderabad.
According to data provided by Jha, a total of 2,063 passengers travelled to and from Darbhanga airport in 12 flights on February 5.
Meanwhile, Darbhanga MP Gopal Jee Thakur, in a statement, criticised the state government for delay in allotment of 78 acres of land for construction of permanent terminal building and installation of navigation facility at Darbhanga airport, which is owned by the Air Force.
