Kushinagar Airport
Kushinagar Airport or Kasia Airport is situated near Kasia, 52 km east of
Gorakhpur, in Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh, India. The airstrip
spans 97 acres, has a small apron of 145 metres by 46 metres and handles
small aircraft.
The airport has one asphalt runway with 5,680 ft (1,731 m) long and 266 ft
(81 m) elevation above sea level. The runway is 11/29 oriented. The runway
will be extended to 3,200 metres under the approved airport upgrade.
The airport lies near an important Buddhist pilgrimage site, where Gautama
Buddha has attained Parinirvana after his death. The State Government plans
to develop the airport to cater to international tourists who visit this
site. The government has acquired 550 acres of land for this project at a
cost of Rs 180 crores. The Central Government has agreed to a Viability gap
funding (VGF) of 20%.
The Airport will be built through a joint venture between State Government
and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The State Cabinet cleared the project and approved the financial bid
document in January 2014. But despite several attempts to reduce the cost
and the size of the project, the government could not convince private
players about its viability. In May 2015, the state government decided to
take the support of AAI to go ahead with the
project.
On 24 June 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recognized the Kushinagar
Airport as an international airport, in part to attract Buddhist pilgrims.
In February 2021, the airport received all necessary clearances from the
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to be recognized as the
international airport, becoming the third international airport in Uttar
Pradesh after Lucknow and Varanasi.
On 20 October 2021, PM Modi officially inaugurated the airport during
Abhidhamma Day celebrations at Kushinagar, stating that it would boost the
aviation sector and help increase international tourism from Buddhist
pilgrims around the world. On that day, Sri Lanka's Minister for Youth and
Sports Namal Rajapaksa and more than a hundred members of the Buddhist
clergy landed at the inauguration of the airport as the first international
flight landing.
Airlines and Destinations
As of November 2022, SpiceJet is the only airline operating from Kushinagar
Airport, providing Delhi-Kushinagar flights six times a week. Jyotiraditya
Scindia, Minister of Civil Aviation, said that flights to Mumbai & Kolkata
would also be operational soon in the future, at least by 2023.
On 26 November 2021, the first passenger flight of SpiceJet landed at the
airport from Delhi with 74 passengers, becoming the first scheduled flight
to land at Kushinagar International Airport.
Currently, SpiceJet operates scheduled flight services to and from this
Airport to Delhi as stated below:
| Airlines | Destinations |
| SpiceJet | Delhi |
folder_open Airports in Uttar Pradesh