LBS (Lal Bahadur Shastri) International Airport in Varanasi will start round-the-clock operations in view of the demand for operating more flights and night parking facilities by some airlines. Presently, the country has about 20 such airports.
LBS International Airport director Anil Kumar Rai said, “We have received Airport Authority of India (AAI) nod to operate the airport round-the-clock. Presently, the airport is being operated from 7.30 am to 9.30 pm only, although we have night landing facility here for a long time. Now, we are gearing up for 24x7 operations from October 28.” “The 6.30 am slot to operate a morning flight has been booked by Jet Airways,” he said adding, “We have also received demands for night parking facilities by several airways, but a decision in this context will be taken later.” On an average, 30 flights are landing and taking off from this airport per day for 17 destinations, including four international — Sharjah, Bangkok, Kathmandu and Colombo, he said.
According to Rai, till 2013-14 the number of flights per year from this airport was 8,400. By the end of 2017-18 financial year, this number has reached 15,658 per year, he said. Rai also said that the number of air passengers from this airport has gone up to 21 lakh per year from eight lakhs recorded in 2013-14. These figures were also quoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Wednesday speech here.