Have you taken a good look at the
roads of Bihar?
Gaya attracts the maximum
international tourists in Bihar and
i can assure you that if these
people had to face the road journey
from Patna to Gaya , then their
number will go down drastically! -
Anumeha Singh - Oct. 16, 2006
What is an international Airport ?
Any airport that has a flight
to/from an international destination
is called an "International
Airport". Flights from Patna and
Gaya going to Kathmandu, make both
of these airports "international".
In addition to the facilities at any
regular airport, you have staff and
security to process immigration
needs of the passengers traveling at
an "International Airport". In
absence of data regarding revenue
generation of both Patna and Gaya
airports, a decision can not be made
on their viability. Airports earn
their sustenance through the Airport
taxes levied on passengers and
aircraft, fees levied on Airlines to
use the terminals and facilities at
the airport and from fees on cargo
shipments out of the airport. A
projected assessment of these
incomes will have to be made over
the next fifty years to get a
realistic assessment of the
financial performance of both of
these airports.
San Jose Int'l airport is still
functioning. It handles many flights
to Silicon Valley a day. If it has
financial woes, it clearly does not
show in the functioning of the
Airport. If you have to go to Menlow
Park, Cupertino, Sunnyvale,
Milpitas, Fremont and many other
cities in that South Bay Area, then
San Jose Int'l airport is the
answer. This airport also eases
traffic and congestion of the air
and road traffic in San Francisco.
There can be political agendas in
restricting Patna as the only 'Port
of Entry' so that the foreigners
coming into the state will 'have to'
pass through the Capital and will
spend some money there. If indeed
Patna and Gaya are connected by a
high speed rail, the problem of a
second large International airport
at Gaya might be solved, but then,
there will have to be facilities in
Patna to handle the transiting
International Passengers to /from
Gaya - and also, the crime /
security level of Patna will have to
be factored into the equation.
I am inclined to agree with the
author that there should be one port
of entry at Patna, but from that
point on, rapid transit should be
available to Gaya so that a tourist
does not feel obligated to stick
around in Patna if he/she does not
want to.
In addition, If I were doing what
Nitish Kumar is doing, I'd explore
the possibility of running weekly
air charters out of Patna that would
take foreign tourists to, Rajgir,
Nalanda, Kushi Nagar (UP) and
Lumbini (Nepal) and bring them back
to Patna by the end of the day. It
may require a partnership with Govt.
of Nepal, Govt. of UP and Govt. of
Japan to pull it off, but it is
surely worth the effort. - Aarcee
- Oct. 16, 2006
One of the points which I did not
highlight well was - Airports work
on 'Hub' concept. Unless there is
enough traffic to an airport -
additional flights will not get
added. So we need to create a 'Hub'.
Either Patna or Gaya. If you create
a 'Hub' then people get easy
connections, operational efficiency
increases and with a reduction of
cost.
Secondly, in case of San Jose and
San Francisco - SFO airport has
reached its critical mass in terms
of operations, hence San Jose
airport can still be justified which
is not the case of Patna or Gaya
Airport. Both are getting very very
sub optimal number of flights. It's
like having two Bus Depot in a town
with fewer number of buses starting
and ending in both of them to
outside towns/cities. It becomes a
pain for passengers as they loose
the backup options.
Thirdly - I agree all this creation
of 'Hub' only makes sense if we have
world class roads. And it means
covering the entire Tourist golden
triangle - Patna-Rajgir-Gaya.
One more example - Jerusalem
attracts 10 million tourists (mostly
religious/heritage based - same as
Bihar) but the airport which runs is
Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv which
is 120 km from Jerusalem. -
Naveen Kumar
Sharma - Oct. 17, 2006
In
response to the letter of Mr. Naveen
Kumar Sharma, I shall like to point
out that what is needed is the
development of the region, the
hinterland of these two airports.
Only with very fast development, the
capacity can be better utilized. As
a suggestion, the whole region is
very fertile. As I remember of a
brief stay at Noorsarai in 1966, the
area produces potato, chilly, and
tobacco. A special agency of the
government must work on encouraging
the production of right varieties
that can be exported. If West Bengal
can export potato, why can’t Bihar?
One of the Agricultural institutes
of Bihar must dedicate its resources
and technical know-how to help the
people. Further, the reputed
entrepreneurs must be brought with
all sorts of incentive to open
food-processing units.
But the most importantly, Bihar must
exploit its potential of tourism at
the best. Tourism must be undertaken
as the prime savior of the corridor
running from Vaishali to Buddha
Gaya. Bihar must develop this area
to make it attractive for the people
of South-east Asia. - Indra - Oct. 17, 2006 |
