New Delhi: It’s a dream come true for Uttar Pradesh as the first flight is all set to take off from Kushinagar International airport on November 26.
The aviation sector is taking new flights every day in Uttar Pradesh under Yogi’s reign. In this relentless march of having world-class connectivity, the first passenger flight from the Kushinagar International Airport in the Kushinagar district will take off for New Delhi at 12.00 p.m. on Friday, reducing the 14 hours journey to less than 2 hours.
Flight to take off from Kushinagar Int’l airport on November 26
The SpiceJet airplane will take off from Delhi at 12 o’clock in the day and reach Kushinagar at 1:35. According to officials, the fare to the Delhi flight, which will be four days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday) will range between Rs 3500 to Rs 4000.
The operationalisation of these airports is already bringing in investment, establishing industries, and creating employment opportunities in the eastern part of the state, ensuring its social and economic development
PM launched the airport on Oct 20
On October 20, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Kushinagar International Airport and welcomed the first flight from Sri Lanka with a delegation which landed at the airport.
Maintaining that the development of Kushinagar is in the priorities of the UP government and the central government, the PM already said that in order to develop the places associated with Lord Buddha, for better connectivity, special attention is being given by India and the state on the creation of facilities for the devotees.
Nearly 876 km distance between Kushinagar and Delhi that would otherwise take 14 hours to cover by road, would now be traveled in less than two hours, informed the officials, adding that they are also gearing up to commence flight operations to Kolkata and Mumbai from December 17 and 18 respectively.
For this, SpiceJet has issued a schedule approved by the Airport Authority of India. Flights will commence from December 17 for Kolkata and December 18 for Mumbai.
SpiceJet aircraft will take off from Kolkata at 1:35 pm on December 17 and reach Kushinagar at 3:20 pm. Whereas the flight from Kushinagar will take off at 3:40 pm and will return to Kolkata at 5:15 pm. Air service between Kushinagar-Mumbai will be for three days a week– Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Similarly, on December 18, SpiceJet’s first flight from Mumbai to Kushinagar will take off at 12:10 pm and reach 2:25 pm. The return flight from Kushinagar to Mumbai will be from 3 pm. The return flight will reach Mumbai at 5:35 pm. Flight facility between Kushinagar and Mumbai will be available thrice a week on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Kushinagar is an important place for Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world as it is believed that Gautam Buddha had attained Nirvana here more than 2,500 years ago. It provides connectivity to many places of Buddhist pilgrimage such as Lumbini in Rupandehi District of Nepal; Sarnath in Varanasi, Shravasti near Bahraich, and Bodhgaya, Rajgir, and Vaishali in Bihar.
UP tops nation in air connectivity
At present, Uttar Pradesh has 8 operational airports, while 13 airports and 7 airstrips are being developed. The operational airports handling commercial flights in Uttar Pradesh are Lucknow, Varanasi, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Agra, Kanpur, Prayagraj, and Hindon (Ghaziabad).
The PM will lay the foundation stone of the Noida International Airport (Jewar airport) on November 25.
