Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel, Mr Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, inaugurated the new Terminal Building at Dehradun Airport from New Delhi last week. Mr Puskar Singh Dhami, Chief Minister, Uttarakhand joined the event from Dehradun.
In his inaugural address, the Minister said, “The construction of the new Terminal Building was planned in two phases to provide uninterrupted operations at the airport. After the operationalisation of the first phase of the terminal admeasuring 28,729 sq. m, and second phase measuring 14,047 sq. m, the overall area of the terminal has expanded to 42,776 sq. m. This way the overall capacity has gone up by ten times”.
He added that the government is upgrading 3 airports in Uttarakhand i.e. Dehradun, Pant Nagar and Pithoragarh.
Dehradun had air connectivity only with 3 destinations in 2004, but is now connected to 13 destinations. In 2014 the airport had only 46 flight movements per week, which has increased currently to 200 flights, a growth of 130%.
Spread over an area of 326.42 acres, it is also known as Jolly Grant Airport and is located 20 km from Rishikesh and 35 km from Haridwar. It has been planned in two phases. After the operationalisation of the first phase of the terminal admeasuring 28,729 sq. m, the second phase saw the terminal building being expanded with 14,047 sq. m, taking the overall area to 42,776 sq. m, said a release.