Kushinagar/Padrauna/ UP East

The History of #KhushinagarAirport

Kushinagar is an important Buddhist Pilgrimage Site, as it is the place where #Buddha attained #Mahaparinirvana.  The Airport was envisaged to boost travel  in the region & facilitate the travel of Buddhist Pilgrims from all over the world.

#KushinagarAirport can be traced back to the British Raj, when a 3.2-kilometer-long Airstrip was built in 1946. However, the airstrip was not used for commercial flights and was eventually abandoned 

Kushinagar International Airport is a Customs Notified Airport, which means that it can handle International Flights. The airport has a single runway that is 3.2 kilometers long and 46 meters wide. The airport also has a Passenger Terminal Building that accommodates upto 300 passengers at a time.

The airport is located in the Kushinagar District of Uttar Pradesh, which is about 50 kilometers from Gorakhpur. 

Timeline of the key events in the history of Kushinagar Airport

🔴1946: A 3.2-kilometer-long Airstrip is built in Kushinagar by British Engineers. Rajkumari Padma Singh ji recalls how it was a very popular initiative promoted by her father Raja Saheb Rai Bahadur Rudra Pratap Narain Singh ji  & The British Govt of India.

🔴1954: The airstrip is used for the first time to land an aircraft.

🔴 1955-56  Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru Restores Mahaparinirvan Stupa & initiates The Buddhist Circuit. A grand  celebration of 2500 years of Buddha is held at Kushinagar. 

🔴1995: The then Chief Minister Mayawati announces the renovation of the airstrip.

🔴1995: The foundation stone of the terminal building for the airstrip is laid.

🔴2008: The then Chief Minister Mayawati talks about the Kushinagar International Airport in the budget session.

🔴2010: Ordinance for land acquisition is issued, but the work stops due to protest by the farmers.

🔴2012: Work on the proposal of Kushinagar International Airport begins in the Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party led Govt.

🔴2016: The Airstrip is inaugurated by the then Cabinet Minister of the State, Brahmashankar Tripathi.

🔴2018: PM Modi announces to make Kushinagar airstrip an International Airport.

🔴2020: The Kushinagar International Airport is approved in the cabinet meeting chaired by PM Modi.

🔴2021: The Kushinagar International Airport inaugurated by Narendra Modi.