The Central Government today approved direct air service from Dehradun to three major cities of the country – Ayodhya, Amritsar and Varanasi. All three services will be launched on March 6. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia for the approval of air services on these three routes. Dehradun Airport is a medium-sized airport in India with domestic flights only. On the other hand, Ayodhya recently got its first airport which has been named Maharishi Valmiki International Airport. PM Modi had inaugurated the airport on December 30 last year.
In a bid to bolster air connectivity to the sacred cities of Ayodhya, Varanasi and Amritsar, and to cater to the increasing influx of pilgrims, the three air routes have been added to the list. Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia had virtually inaugurated SpiceJet's direct flight service linking Ayodhya with eight key cities last month. Now Dehradun has been added to this list.
The newly launched flight routes establish connections between Ayodhya and prominent urban centers such as Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Patna, Darbhanga, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. This strategic expansion comes in response to the rising demand for flights to Ayodhya following the recent 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony at the Ram Temple, heightening Ayodhya's tourism prospects and setting the stage for economic and societal advancement.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially inaugurated the Ayodhya airport on December 30, regular flight operations commenced a week later, with IndiGo's Delhi-Ayodhya route. Presently, the airport facilitates 11-12 departures daily, linking the temple town to major cities such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, and Mumbai, among others. As per preliminary figures released by the Airport Authority of India, the airport served a total of 42,341 passengers between January 6 and February 6. This comprised 22,546 arrivals and 19,795 departures.