Ayodhya Ram Mandir inauguration: More than forty requests for the landing of the chartered flights at The Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhyadham (MVIAA), have come in from various places related to Pran Pratishtha.
The waiting Ram mandir consecration on January 22 is causing a race for parking considering chartered airplanes and VVIP choppers.
Indian state of Uttar Pradesh’s CM Yogi Adityanath announced that nearly 100 chartered planes will fly to the newly opened airport in Ayodhya on January 22. The Maharishi Valmiki International Airport, Ayodhyadham (MVIAA), has received over 40 landing requests for chartered flights for the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ event.
The MVIAA houses up to eight aprons (bays) that can accommodate single-aisle 200-seater aircraft and smaller ones. Nevertheless, it is estimated that at least four parking slots will be used by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aircraft.
When the plane touches down, no other aircraft will be present at Ayodhya Airport. Here, a person of some significance can be accommodated.
‘Drop-and–move’ policy
The ‘Pran Pratishtha’ function to be held on January 22 is likely to see an unparalleled rise in traffic at Ayodhya Airport. Reportedly, airport officials are adopting a ‘Drop and move’ policy. The flights have to allocate tight time slots for landing as well as take-off, and that will require lots of coordination in order not to lead to congestion.
Only after the Prime Minister has left Ayodhya will flights be permitted to land, unload one dignitary in a designated window of time and then take off back towards the nearest airport.
This is considering the shortage of parking facilities in Ayodhya
Alternate destinations
Media reports state that AAI sources reported a dozen airports within the range of 1,00 km have been requested to relinquish parking areas where jets can stay overnight after discharging VIPs in Ayodhya.
According to the report, AAI has strategically selected twelve airports across five states, UP, Bihar Jharkhand MP, and Uttarakhand, for parking private jet charter flights.
Some of the twelve alternatives under consideration include Khajuraho, Jabalpur, Bhopal, Dehradun, Lucknow, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Varanasi, Kushinagar Gorakhpur Gaya, and also to be included in this list is Deoghar. Travel time between Ayodhya and alternate airports
Simple calculations of aerial distance, with consideration for favorable conditions, show that flight from Ayodhya to Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport takes 39 minutes.
The longest distance will be that of a flight from Ayodhya International Airport (AYJ) to Raja Bhoj Airport, Bhopal, which takes 1 hour and 16 minutes.
According to reports, requests for 30 parking slots were reported by Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport of Varanasi between January 21 and the third quarter. But LBSI Airport has a capacity of 12 non-scheduled flights in addition to ten large and one small aircraft at any given time.
