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Turning a new leaf in regional air connectivity, Gorakhpur is now being connected with Lucknow as flights between two cities commence on March 28.
With this new air connectivity, the journey from Gorakhpur to Lucknow can be made in an hour.
Travelers aboard the inaugural flight coming from Gorakhpur will be given a grand welcome at the Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport in Lucknow.
Only four airports were operating in the state in the year 2017 with flights to only 25 destinations. However, eight airports have become operational in the last four years of the Yogi Adityanath rule in UP, providing air services to 61 destinations. As against 26.49 crore passengers in the year 2016-17, as many as 34.46 crore passengers used air facilities in 2018-19.
By 2017, the country's most populous state had only two international airports - in Lucknow and Varanasi -- but now UP will have three more international airports -- Noida International Greenfield Airport at Jewar, in Kushinagar and at Ayodhya, making it a total of five international airports.
A total of 13 more airports and seven airstrips are in the process of being activated in the state. This effort will make Uttar Pradesh fly high in the field of civil aviation. The airstrips at Aligarh, Azamgarh, Moradabad, Shravasti, Chitrakoot and Sonbhadra have been selected for air services under Udaan, the regional air connectivity scheme of the Central government.
The airports at Aligarh, Azamgarh, Moradabad and Shravasti are under development while Chitrakoot and Sonbhadra airports are nearing completion.
A budget of Rs 101 crore is proposed for Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram Airport being built in Ayodhya. Procurement of land for the airports at Saharanpur, Jhansi, Meerut and Lalitpur is also underway.
UP is the first state in the country where five international airports are being built simultaneously. Even after 70 years of independence, the most populous state had only four airports till 2017. Now, Uttar Pradesh has eight operational airports while 13 more are being built.