Bombay High Court has sought responses from the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, Airport Authority of India (AAI) and others taking cognisance of the Nagpur airport being closed for eight hours daily since March 2024. The court highlighted that the situation has been causing inconvenience to the passengers.
A division bench consisting of Justices N W Sambre and Abhay Mantri cited media reports indicating that minimal repair efforts had been made to restore normalcy over the past four months.
“Considering the geographical location of Nagpur city, being the centre of the country, the operation of the airport is for the convenience of the people residing in central India,” the HC said.
The bench issued notices to the Union Civil Aviation Ministry, AAI, the Maharashtra Government’s Department of Civil Aviation, the Maharashtra Airport Development Company, and the Multi-Modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN).
The court instructed the respondents to submit their affidavits and scheduled the matter for a hearing on August 14.
The number of passengers flying in and out of Nagpur airport dropped by 93,000 during the April to June quarter compared to the same period last year, representing a 12% decline, media reports have said. In the April to June period of 2024, over 666,000 passengers used Nagpur airport, down from more than 762,000 passengers in the corresponding period of the previous year.
(With PTI inputs)
