The Maryada Pushottam International Airport at Ayodhya is enabled for night landing, catering to A320 aircraft and an immediate glimpse upon alighting from the aircraft of the Ram Mandir. These are just some of the highlights of the airport which will become operational in December.
In 2022, as per statistics available from the UP Tourism department, some 2.3 crore local tourists visited Ayodhya. The number of foreign tourists was only 1465. With international air connectivity, this number is expected to go up substantially. The number of tourists arriving in Ayodhya is substantially lower than that in Varanasi which got 7.1 crore tourists in the same period. While the airport will facilitate foreign and local arrivals, another initiative, a direct bus from Ayodhya to Janakpur (Nepal) has not taken off as yet.
The Airports Authority of India had already completed critical working elements at the airport. These include calibration of the instrumental landing system which consists of localisers, glide paths, markers, calibration of all phases etc. The Air Traffic Service unit is also operational.
The airport, like the temple, is being crafted with profuse use of pink sandstone. Even the carvings at the airport are similar to that of the temple. This will ensure that inbound tourists have an immediate feel and glimpse of the temple as they come off the planes.
In the phase one of the airport construction, a 2200 metre long and 45 metre broad runway has been constructed. In the pipeline is an increase to 3750 metres for which land acquisition has been completed.
The airport currently has parking space for four aircraft while aprons for another four are being created. The process of licensing for the running and maintenance of the airport is currently under way.
A separate fleet of fire brigade engines will be put into service for the airport.