Gorakhpur Airport is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

located in

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dist ...

, in the state of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The

Airports Authority of India The Airports Authority of India, or AAI, is a public sector enterprise under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civil aviation infrastruct ...

operates it as a

civil enclave A joint-use airport is an aerodrome that is used for both military aviation and civil aviation. They typically contain facilities of both a civil airport and a military air base. By country United States The United States has several joint-us ...

at the Gorakhpur Air Force Station of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

. From the city the airport is . The airport covers an area of 0.71 acres. In June 2017, the Civil Terminal building was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh

Yogi Adityanath Yogi Adityanath (born on 5 June 1972 as Ajay Singh Bisht),

. It will be expanded in the following months together with a conveyor belt.

Air Force Station Gorakhpur

It's one of the bases of

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...

which operates under

Central Air Command ''Nigrahya Rasava shastrava'' , colors = , colors_label = , battles = 1962 Sino-Indian War, East Pakistan Operations 1971, Operation Meghdoot, Orissa Super-Cyclone Relief, 1999 , anniversaries = , commander1 = Air Marshal Amar Preet Sin ...

, IAF operates

No. 16 Squadron IAF No. 16 Squadron Indian Air Force (Black Cobras), is a counter-air and interdiction unit, operating out of the Indian Air Force station in Gorakhpur. In 2001, the squadron was operating SEPECAT Jaguar IS and IB fighter jets. The squadron starte ...

, No. 27 Squadron IAF and No. 105 Helicopter Unit from here. These squadrons have regular military exercises; other than this, they actively take part in rescue operations.

SEPECAT Jaguar The SEPECAT Jaguar is an Anglo-French jet attack aircraft originally used by the British Royal Air Force and the French Air Force in the close air support and nuclear strike role. It is still in service with the Indian Air Force. Originall ...

aircraft and

Mil Mi-17 The Mil Mi-17 ( NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian servic ...

helicopters are based here.

Infrastructure

Gorakhnath Airport has one runway that is designated 11/29 and has dimensions of . The existing terminal is able to handle 200 passengers in peak hours and has an area of 23,500 sq ft. On 28 March 2021, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh

Yogi Adityanath Yogi Adityanath (born on 5 June 1972 as Ajay Singh Bisht),

laid the foundation for the extension of the existing terminal building at a cost of , which will be spread in an area of 3440 sqm. Equipped with two conveyor belts in the arrival hall, 10 check-in-counters, escalators, lifts, restaurant and an additional security holding area in the first floor, the extended terminal building will be able to handle the 200 passengers during peak hours.

Airlines and destinations

{{Airport-dest-list , Alliance Air,

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

IndiGo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

SpiceJet SpiceJet is an Indian budget airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. It is the second largest airline in the country by number of domestic passengers carried, with a market share of 13.6% as of March 2019. The airline operates 630 daily fli ...

{{cite web, url=https://www.livehindustan.com/uttar-pradesh/gorakhpur/story-direct-flight-for-mumbai-from-31st-march-from-gorakhpur-2381816.html , title=31 मार्च से मुंबई और 30 अप्रैल से कोलकाता-हैदराबाद की सीधी उड़ान , language=hi , date=28 January 2019 , access-date=2 March 2019 , website= Live Hindustan , author=हिन्दुस्तान टीम , location=Gorakhpur

Traffic

Front view of new terminal Gorakhpur Airport {{Airport-Statistics, iata=GOP

New Gorakhpur Airport

Due to the limited expansion options available and restrictions enforced by the

, the airport will not be able to cope with the growing demand for air traffic into Gorakhpur. Hence, a greenfield airport for Gorakhpur in 300 acres has been proposed on Gorakhpur Varanasi National Highway.{{cite web, url=https://abpnews.abplive.in/uttar-pradesh/govt-plan-new-airport-and-bus-station-in-gorakhpur-1148516 , title=New Gorakhpur Airport, date=15 July 2019 , access-date=15 July 2019 , location=Gorakhpur

References