6 of 7 UP airports shut months after takeoff: RTI reveals faltering aviation push
India Today
What looked like a major aviation push in Uttar Pradesh has quickly lost altitude. India Today filed an RTI in the matter and fresh data obtained from the Airports Authority of India reveals that six of the seven airports that started commercial flights after 2021 have already seen services suspended.
A Right to Information (RTI) filed by India Today has exposed turbulence in Uttar Pradesh’s airport push, showing that six of the seven airports launched after 2021 have already stopped scheduled commercial flights. Ayodhya is the lone airport still operational.
The data by Airports Authority of India shows that Kushinagar airport was inaugurated on October 20, 2021, with scheduled flights beginning on November 26, 2021. Operations were suspended in November 2023.
Ayodhya airport, inaugurated on December 30, 2023, started flights on January 10, 2024, and remains operational.
Airports at Azamgarh, Aligarh, Chitrakoot, Shravasti and Moradabad — most of which were inaugurated in March 2024 — saw services stop within months. Azamgarh and Chitrakoot ran for roughly eight to nine months, Moradabad for about three months, while Shravasti and Aligarh were also suspended shortly after launch.
Kushinagar International Airport initially showed promise. Regular flights began soon after inauguration and the airport recorded its peak in March 2022 with 54 scheduled flights in a month, according to the RTI data table.
However, the numbers steadily declined through 2023. By November 2023 — when scheduled services were suspended — only six flights were operating.
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