Darbhanga Airport

Darbhanga Airport (IATA: DBR, ICAO: VEDH) is a domestic airport and an Indian Air Force Station, serving Darbhanga, Bihar, India. It is located just at the outskirts of the city near the NH-527B and NH-57 highways, which passes through Darbhanga. The airport is operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The foundation stone for the airport was laid by the then Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, and the then Civil Aviation Minister, Suresh Prabhu, in the presence of the State Civil Aviation Minister, Jayant Sinha, on 24 December 2018.^[5] After efforts taken by the then Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri.^[6] Commercial flights started on 8 November 2020.

Darbhanga Airport
IATA: DBR ICAO: VEDH[1]
Summary
Airport type	Military/Public
Owner	Indian Air Force
Operator	Airports Authority of India
Serves	Darbhanga
Location	Darbhanga, Bihar, India
Opened	8 November 2020 (3 years ago) (2020-11-08)
Elevation AMSL	171 ft / 52 m
Coordinates	26°11′41″N 085°55′03″E
Map
DBR Location of airport Show map of Bihar DBR DBR (India) Show map of India
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 10/28 2,743 9,000 Asphalt
Statistics (April 2023 - March 2024)
Passengers 526,066 ( 14.3%) Aircraft movements 3,335 ( 20%) Cargo tonnage 418 ( 54.3%)
Source: AAI[2][3][4]

Mithila painting at Darbhanga Airport

Apron area of the airport

History

This airport was built by Maharaja Kameshwar Singh Bahadur of Darbhanga when he started his own private airline. It was funded by a private aviation company Darbhanga Aviation after Second World War. He purchased three former military Douglas DC3 aircraft. Darbhanga Aviation was started in 1950 and became defunct in 1962.^[7] During the 1962 Indo-China War, the airport was acquired by the Indian Air Force.^[8]

Structure

Airport Authority of India built an Interim Terminal Building, a taxi track, and the apron area. The runway was strengthened to handle the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 and a pre-fabricated building was erected to serve as a temporary terminal building.^[9] The government of India had sanctioned approximately ₹100 crores for these projects.^[10] On 16 Feb 2021 one Apron of 167 mt X 62mt was made operational. This Apron can accommodate Two B737-800/A320 at a time making the landing of planes smoother. Earlier due to the lack of parking space, airplanes had to wait in the sky.^[11] The terminal has six check-in counters, and a capacity to handle 200 peak hour passengers. A car parking facility has a capacity of 30 cars. ^[12]

UDAN Scheme

In January 2018, SpiceJet was selected to operate flights from Darbhanga to Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai, under the Government's Regional Connectivity Scheme called UDAN.^[13][14]

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
IndiGo	Hyderabad, Kolkata[15]
SpiceJet[16]	Delhi, Mumbai

Statistics

Annual passenger traffic at DBR airport. See Wikidata query.

Passenger, Aircraft Movement, and Cargo at Darbhanga Airport (2021-2022)

Year	Passengers	Change	Aircraft Movement	Change	Cargo (MT)	Change	Ref
2021–22	619,948		4,350		96		[17]

Future

The Government of Bihar has the acquired additional 78 acres of the land and transferred to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which has started the DPR process for the further expansion of the passenger terminal building at the airport.^[18] The expansion plan is to develop a new passenger terminal, a new Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower, cargo facilities among other facilities close to NH-27 is being considered by the AAI.^[19] Darbhanga MP, Gopal Jee Thakur met Jayant Sinha and later Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and demanded to name the airport as Mahakavi Kokil Vidyapati Airport.^[20][21] This was also suggested by Jayant Sinha at the foundation stone laying ceremony for the construction of the current passenger terminal, by naming the airport after famous Maithili poet, Vidyapati.^[5]

As of March 2023, the Government of Bihar has acquired 24 acres of land for the runway expansion and another 54 acres for the construction of a new permanent terminal, while the remaining 24 acres for installation of Instrument Landing System (ILS) to facilitate night landing has been acquired and is under-construction, which will be completed by mid-2023.^[22][23][18]

• • • Tender floated for Phase 1 of the Permanent Terminal Building of Darbhanga Airport. Estimated cost is ₹631.71 Crores on 30 November 2023.

(Development of New Civil Enclave at Darbhanga, Bihar. SH:- Construction of New Terminal Building, Allied Structure and External Development works on Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) Model. Region / Airport : Eastern Region/Darbhanga Last Sale Date : 18-Jan-2024 17:00Department : Engineering)

(Reference: https://www.aai.aero/en/tender/tender-search?field_region_tid=All&field_airport_tid=All&term_node_tid_depth=All&field_tender_status_value=All&field_tender_last_sale_date_value%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=&combine=darbhanga)

See also

• India portal

• Jay Prakash Narayan Airport, Patna
• Gaya Airport
• Airport Authority of India
• Bihta Air Force Station
• Raxaul Airport
• Purnea Airport

References

1. "Information Paper" (PDF). icao.int. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 May 2022.
2. "Annexure III – Passenger Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
3. "Annexure II – Aircraft Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
4. "Annexure IV – Freight Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
5. "Foundation of civil enclave laid at Darbhanga airport". The Times of India. 25 December 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
6. "Bookings for daily flights from Darbhanga to start by month end: Hardeep S Puri". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
7. "Darbhanga Aviation history from India, Rest of World". Airline History. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
8. "First President's royal flight in '62". The Times of India. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
9. "SpiceJet: Indigo and SpiceJet express interest in operating flights from Darbhanga | India News - Times of India". The Times of India. 17 January 2018. Archived from the original on 19 May 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
10. "Flight operations from Darbhanga from mid-2019, AAI at work | Patna News - Times of India". The Times of India. 28 September 2018.
11. Airports Authority of India [@AAI_Official] (16 February 2021). "To strengthen airports ops and to accommodate two B737-800/A320 at a time, #AAI's Darbhanga @aaidarairport is ready with a new 167 mt X 62mt apron, with a connecting taxiway and connecting road. The new apron has put in use from today onwards. #ProvidingTheBest https://t.co/MoIT84NF8l" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021 – via Twitter.
12. "Darbhanga airport: CM Nitish Kumar lays foundation for civil enclave". Hindustan Times. 25 December 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
13. "SpiceJet to start operations on UDAN 2 routes from April-end". Financial Express. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
14. "Indigo and SpiceJet express interest in operating flights from Darbhanga". The Times of India. 17 January 2018. Archived from the original on 19 May 2018.
15. "IndiGo Airlines to start flights from Darbhanga on July 5". www.jagran.com. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
16. "SpiceJet Flight Schedule". SpiceJet. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
17. "AAI Traffic News 2021-2022". www.aai.aero. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
18. Rumi, Faryal (7 March 2023). "Govt transfers land to AAI for Darbhanga airport development". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
19. "Story". Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
20. "Darbhanga MP meets PM Modi; demands renaming of airport". Hindustan Times. 12 August 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
21. "Passengers at Bihar's Darbhanga airport struggle without transport at entry gate". Hindustan Times. 13 April 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
22. "Govt acquires 24 acres for Bihar's Darbhanga airport runway expansion: Official". Hindustan Times. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
23. "Bihar hands over another 24 acres of land to upgrade Darbhanga airport". 19 October 2022.

External links