Direct Haj flights from Aurangabad

AURANGABAD: The 100-year-old Chikalthana aerodrome joined the category of international airports as the civil aviation minister Praful Patel flagged off the first direct flight — carrying a batch of 200 Haj pilgrims — to Jeddah from Aurangabad, on Friday.

When chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh  inaugurated the sprawling terminal building armed with modern amenities he commented, this was perhaps the country’s first ultra-modern airport. Also present to grace the occasion were many state ministers, MPs, MLAs and prominent industrialists from the Marathwada region.

Deshmukh also said that the direct flights will not only benefit the Haj pilgrims but would also help in the development of the Marathwada region, particularly for industries and agriculture. Now the farmers of this region will be able to send their products directly to various destinations around the world.

Chikalthana airport controller, Vivek Upadhyay, said, that although the flights for Haj pilgrims to Jeddah had started operations in 2006, the flights were being operated via Nagpur or Mumbai. He also stated that flights to Singapore and Dubai would be operated from Aurangabad from February 2009.

General manager (Project) KK Singh said that Rs60 crore was contributed by Japan Bank of International Co-operation  under the Ajanta-Ellora Development Project Phase-II, to convert the Chikalthana airport into an international standard airport.
The remaining amount was contributed by the Airport Authority of India (AAI).