Number of planes halved at Ayodhya airport
– Photo: Amar Ujala
Expansion
The operation of many direct flights taking off from Maharishi Valmiki International Airport of Ramnagari is at a standstill these days. Lack of passengers and turmoil in airline companies are considered to be the main reasons for this. At present, daily flights from Ayodhya to Chennai and Kolkata have been made weekly. There is only one flight left for Mumbai also. While in the initial phase around 18 planes used to fly from Ramnagari every day, now this number has come down to half.
SpiceJet had started daily flights from Ayodhya to Chennai, which is now operating only two days a week on Thursday and Sunday. Same is the condition of Kolkata flight also. At present, apart from Air India Express, no airline is operating flights to Kolkata. At the same time, only Indigo direct flights are flying daily for Mumbai. Earlier, SpiceJet flights also operated daily. But now SpiceJet is being operated on a weekly basis. Also, the direct flight to Mumbai is going via Delhi. However, it is not yet clear as to how long this situation will continue. There is doubt whether flights will restart or be stopped forever.
Services may start in future
The flight operations have been stopped for the time being by the airlines citing personal reasons. These air services can also be started in future. – Vinod Kumar, Airport Director
