With the inauguration and operationalisation of the airport at Belora in Amravati, the number of airports in Vidarbha has gone up to six. Thus, of 11 districts in the region, six have got airports. However, barring Nagpur and Gondia airports, there are no regular flights operating from the other airports. Also, it is financially not very lucrative for the airlines to operate flights from airports located at such a close distance from each other. As per the website of Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), there are currently 28 airports/airstrips in Maharashtra. Of these, Nagpur is among the four international airports in the State. It is operated by MIHAN India Ltd. Gondia international airport with passenger transport license available from Ministry of Civil Aviation is operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Chandrapur, Amravati, Yavatmal, and Akola (Shivni) airports are among the 15 unlicensed domestic airports in Maharashtra.

 

While the Chandrapur and Amravati airports are operated by MADC, Yavatmal is under MIDC, and Akola is under AAI. Of late, there is buzz over the proposal for setting up an airport in Gadchiroli, the district headquarters of which is yet to be connected with railway. This leaves only Buldhana, Washim, Wardha, and Bhandara districts of Vidarbha without any airport/airstrip, either operational or proposed. As far as Nagpur is concerned, it is the oldest and the regularly operational airports in Vidarbha. Flights to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad, and several other locations operate from this airport on a regular basis. Another operational airport is Birsi in Gondia district, from where flights operate to Hyderabad. In January earlier this year, Indore flight was announced to operate from Birsi. However, according to locals, flight operations are not regular from Morwa (Chandrapur), Yavatmal, and Shivni (Akola) airports. Occasionally, emergency landing or chartered flights use these airports. In October 2009, Akola airport owned by MIDC was transferred to businessman Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group.

 

The agreement was signed for 95 years under the terms and conditions including modernisation, financial assistance, development, maintenance, repair and management. However, as Vijay Darda, former Member of Parliament, wrote in one of his articles, “all the activities were stopped later on the grounds of non-availability of passengers”. Why is it happening? One logical reason could be that it is financially not very lucrative for the airlines to operate flights from airports located at such a close distance from each other. For example, if someone wants to come to Nagpur from Chandrapur by air, he/she will have to spend at least two hours including check-in at the origin airport and baggage claim at the destination airport, and air travel time. However, someone travelling by air and owning a four-wheeler can easily cover the distance in 2.30 hours to 3 hours. Only for saving half-and-hour to one hour, one may not take a flight. Similar can be said about within-Vidarbha air travel. If other airports in Vidarbha are to be used for flights to different destinations, it may impact the passenger load at Nagpur airport.

 

It will need the experts to study whether this impact affects the viability of Nagpur airport, and, if yes, in what way and up to what extent. Lack of flights from the existing airports in Vidarbha region reflects very clearly the lack of enthusiasm among airlines to start operating flights from these. As a result, Morwa (Chandrapur) is being used for Nagpur Flying Club. Birsi has flight training institute. The newly inaugurated Amravati airport is proposed to have South-East Asia’s biggest pilot training school. These are allied uses for Vidarbha airports apart from Nagpur. Still, question remains about Yavatmal and Akola airports’ utility. No one disputes the need for airports if there is a huge demand from district places. But, if there is no demand, such big infrastructure projects become monuments of planning over-enthusiasm, if not failure.