Ayodhya & Goa flights planned from Hindon if HC stay is lifted

Ghaziabad: MP Atul Garg said there is a proposal to start commercial flight operations on newer routes, including Ayodhya and Goa, from the Hindon civil terminal. As of now, flights operate on five routes — Bhatinda, Ludhiana, Adampur, Nanded, and Kishangarh — from the terminal.
On Oct 31, 2023, DIAL — a joint venture of the GMR-led consortium that manages the IGI Airport — moved the Delhi HC challenging the Centre’s decision to allow commercial operations from Hindon, no newer flight routes have been announced from the civil terminal.
In its petition, DIAL argued that a greenfield airport is already being developed at Jewar, which is within 150 km of IGIA, and allowing Hindon Airforce Station to be used for scheduled commercial operations to cater to the same catchment area even before those two airports reach their saturation capacity would seriously impact the viability of IGIA and result in under-utilisation of all the three airports.
The high court is set to hear the case on Aug 21.
If the stay is lifted, new routes from the terminal might be announced soon, Garg said. “I had an informal meeting with Airports Authority of India chairman Sanjeev Kumar and was told that flights on new routes, like Ayodhya, Goa, and a few others, were in the pipeline from the airport,” the MP added.
Manish Gupta, the officiating director of Hindon Civil Terminal, said flight operations on the five existing routes had not been affected due to the DIAL petition.
“Some airlines have expressed interest in operating from Hindon civil terminal, but a formal announcement will be made by AAI and the civil aviation ministry,” he said.
The civil terminal, spread over 3,500 sqm, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the first commercial flight operation commenced in Oct that year.