Centre repeatedly requesting extra land to expand Patna airport runway: Aviation Minister in RS

New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) The runway at Patna airport needs expansion, and the government has been repeatedly requesting additional land from the Bihar government while operating the airport based on all safety risk assessments, Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

According to Naidu, the current runway at Patna airport is not suitable for operating many types of aircraft due to load penalties (a mandatory reduction in an aircraft's total weight); however, the Ministry is managing operations after taking all safety assessments into account.

Naidu's response came after Congress MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh sought an update on the long-pending runway expansion project.

"We have continuously approached the state government because land is the state subject. We want to expand the runway because of the operations that we have there," Naidu said.

Highlighting the challenge, the minister stated that a railway track exists on one side of the runway, while a zoo park and a historic monument on the other side restrict its expansion.

"We have been continuously engaging with the state government to see if there is any kind of possibility for getting the land. If we have the sizable land, which we have already requested, being provided by the state government, definitely, we can elongate the runway," he added.

Besides enabling the operations of larger airplanes, Naidu said that the government also wants to start international flights, for which there is demand in the state.

"But to have this, we definitely need a longer runway, which is a challenge today because of the unavailability of the land," Naidu said.

He added, "We have written to the state government, and we are continually engaging with it on this." PTI JP JP AMJ AMJ