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Otherwise a domestic aerodrome that's used to handling modest air traffic and passenger footfall, the Prayagraj airport is currently operating an average of about 40 non-scheduled charters and private jets daily for the rich and famous, with figures touching 70 such flights on weekends, thanks to spiking in rush to the Maha Kumbh, arguably the largest spiritual congregation of the century.
Those figures are over and above the average 148 scheduled commercial passenger aircraft, which is more than seven times the number during non-Kumbh periods, operating from the airstrip every day setting record passenger movement through the airport that keeps breaking repeatedly since the beginning of the Maha Kumbh, a senior Airports Authority of India official said.
The latest such record was posted on February 21 when 24,512 passengers arrived at and departed from the airport by 236 flights on a single day, the official said.
During normal times, the airport operates some 20 scheduled flights in and out, carrying less than a thousand passengers, he said.
"We witnessed a sudden surge in air traffic, both scheduled and non-scheduled, since the Mauni Amavasya holy dip on January 29. The graph went perpendicular and the rush was beyond our expectations. Airport operations have certainly got challenging since that point," Prayagraj Airport Director Mukesh Chandra Upadhyay told PTI.
"Besides President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we have hosted governors, chief ministers, MPs, MLAs, business leaders, international delegates, bureaucrats and celebrities from various walks of life. A significant majority of them avail of chartered flights and private planes for a dip at the Sangam which they consider a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he added.
Upadhyay said that the airport recently received a contingent of about 180 politicians from Rajasthan who availed of chartered fights for a dip at the Kumbh.
The corporate bigwigs who have passed through the airport for the Maha Kumbh included the Ambani brothers Mukesh and Anil, chairman of the Adani Group Gautam Adani, Hero Motocorp chairman Pawan Munjal, chairman of the Vedanta Group Anil Agarwal, and leaders of the Hinduja Group and TVS Group, all of who arrived with family, the airport director said.
Operated jointly by the Indian Air Force and the AAI, the Prayagraj airport, whose construction was completed in 1931 and was upgraded with the addition of a new civil terminal extension ahead of Kumbh 2019, currently boasts a night landing facility with CAT II Instrument Landing System.
"We are now operating overnight and handling some seven to eight aircraft landings and take-offs post sundown," Upadhyay said.
He stated that while the airport handled less than one lakh passengers during Kumbh 2019, footfall at the airport has already crossed three lakh during the ongoing Maha Kumbh and is likely to significantly jump till the congregation officially draws to a close on February 26 after the Maha Shivratri holy dip.
Marking yet another milestone, the airport recently revived a long-dormant legacy after it received an international chartered flight carrying Laurene Powell Jobs, American billionaire and wife of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, and her associates from Bhutan who made a trip to the Kumbh in January this year.
According to Uttar Pradesh state officials, this was the first international flight which operated out of the airport in 93 years, since the last flight took off from Allahabad for London in 1932.
Airport authorities said that since Powell's aircraft, Prayagraj has subsequently hosted four additional international flights in the wake of the Maha Kumbh, the latest of which was expected to arrive on Monday.
The airport is undergoing a fresh round of upgrade and expansion and, officials said, barely 20 per cent of work remains to be completed.
"We will be more than ready for the next Kumbh once the upgrade is complete," the airport director said.
Speaking of the airport's operational viability once the Maha Kumbh is over, Upadhyay highlighted the government's plans to integrate Prayagraj with the airports at Kashi and Ayodhya.
"Sustained footfall at airports usually depends upon industrial, cultural, political and tourism climates. With only 120 kilometers from Varanasi and 160 kilometers from Ayodhya, Prayagraj reserves the potential to become an important point of the state's spiritual triangle. We are looking forward to the government's plans to promote and operate that triangle for easy ingress and departure of tourists," he said.
The official said his prime takeaway from airport operations during the Maha Kumbh was the change he observed in "people's mindset" for air travel.
"We have had mixed experiences in dealing with passengers. Passengers who may not have had a pleasant experience at the Mela have shown gratitude for getting a seat in the waiting lounge to rest their tired legs. I have been pleasantly surprised with the attitude of the youth who showed paradigm shifts while availing of the airport services following their holy dip at Sangam," he said.