The airport at Patna has served nearly two crore passengers during the last five years from 2017-18 to 2021-22 and carried more than 45000 tonnes of freight during the same period.

This was one of the major findings of the Bihar Economic Survey 2022-23, which was tabled in the state legislature on February 27.

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The airways sector in Bihar is one of the fastest growing sectors.

The Survey said that the airport sector grew from Rs 31 crore in 2011-12 to Rs  252 crore in 2021-22, recording an increase of more than eight times.

It recovered from a slowdown during Covid (2020-21) by registering an impressive growth of nearly 55 percent during 2021-22 over previous year. However, the aviation sector contributes barely one percent to the total GSDP of the transport sector, the Survey said.

A robust civil aviation set up is a key to seamless flow of investment, trade and tourism with significant multiplier effects. The Airport Council International ( ACI) world helps around 400 airports worldwide to manage and deliver the best services for their customers. ACI also publishes an Air Service Quality ( ASQ) index each year for all airports, added the Survey.

“The Patna airport has been continuously improving its ASQ index  and its ranking from 233 in 2020 has improved to 71 in 2022. Patna airport has climbed 162 ranks only during the last two years”, it said.

The Patna airport is one of the fastest emerging airports in the country. As of March 2022, the aircraft’s movement has increased nearly eight times since 2004-05.

As regards to the status of Bihar state road transport corporation, ( BSRTC) currently 523 BSRTC  buses are plying including 131 city buses in Patna and 294 private buses under PPP mode.

The data reveals that an average of 2.7 crore passengers were carried by its buses annually during the period of 2016-17 to 2021-22. The annual increase in the number of passengers carried was more than 54 percent from Rs 2.29 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 3.58 crore in 2020-21. Similarly revenue increased by 90.3 percent during the same year from Rs 49.6 crore to Rs 94.5 crore.

Several agreements have been made with neighbouring states for providing easy and affordable transportation to the passengers.

The agreements have been made with the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. In addition to inter state communication, an international connectivity is also being provided for Nepal. Through a joint agreement, two buses on Bodh Gaya-Patna- Kathmandu route and four buses on Patna- Janakpur route are now plying on a daily basis.

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