Prayagraj, Allahabad's new name, is all set to get the fastestbuilt airport terminal building in the country, in time for the Kumbh Mela that starts on January 15, 2019. While aiming to complete the terminal in a record 11 months, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has also expanded its plans for the airport by deciding to build more aircraft parking bays than earlier planned.

Prayagraj has an Indian Air Force station with a civil terminal of the size of a bungalow.  Since Allahabad has a bench of the High Court, is a major pilgrimage and a centre for learning, the demand for improved air connectivity has been increasing now. Some months back when a team of aviation ministry officials met UP CM Yogi Adityanath, the latter suggested that a new terminal building to enhance capacity be built at Prayagraj.

Under round two Udan, Prayagraj is getting lot of flights from not just Air India but others like Jet Airways. Earlier only one parking bay was planned that allowed only one plane to be parked at a time.  The original estimated cost of building the Prayagraj terminal was about Rs 126 crore, which has now gone up by Rs 40 crore. Kumbh Mela is going to be from January 15 to March 4, 2019, and UP expects lakhs of devotees will visit the holy city that time.

About UDAN:

The scheme, Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik, which loosely translates as “let the common man fly”, proposes that at least half the seats on every flight should have a fare cap of Rs2,500 per seat per hour of flying.

Inexpensive regional air connectivity under the UDAN scheme would allow travellers to save time and enable the middle-classes in small-town India to take their first flights.
Five airlines including Air India, SpiceJet, Turbo Megha, Air Odisha and Air Deccan were allotted 128 routes to fly in the first round by March, but only 16 routes have been operationalised so far.