Ayodhya Airport
Ayodhya Airport, officially known as Maryada Purushottam Shriram International Airport, is an international airport being constructed in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. The government has changed the name of Ayodhya Airport to Maryada Purushottam Shriram International Airport after Lord Shri Ram in 2021. The work of expanding the government airstrip in Faizabad to build a major international airport has started. The existing government airstrip is situated between the NH 27 and NH 330 at Sultanpur Naaka, Faizabad, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The State Government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Airports Authority of India (AAI ) in February 2014 for the development of the airport. In February 2021, the Government of India has approved the Uttar Pradesh government's proposal for an international airport in Faizabad. Recent efforts. Efforts by Union Civil Aviation Minister. In 2012, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said "There are three airstrips Faizabad, Moradabad and Meerut. We requested that give these airstrips to us and we will construct airports. Besides at places where there are airports of defence services, we requested the state to provide land and we will construct a separate terminal". Singh said that the Ministry of Civil Aviation  had asked the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, to provide the ministry with land to set up nine airports across Uttar Pradesh, and said that having more airports would generate employment and economic growth in Uttar Pradesh. Development under low-cost airports. In an endeavour to provide air connectivity to different parts of India, development of low-cost airports is the most important component. Instructions have been issued to AAI to identify the most suitable low cost model for development of smaller airports and to develop airports in the smaller cities based on this mode. Handing over to  Airports Authority of India. In 2008, the Indian Air Force airstrip at Faizabad was handed over by the government of Uttar Pradesh to Airports Authority of India (AAI) to be developed as full-fledged airport along with three others (Meerut, Moradabad and Saifai) on the instructions of the Uttar Pradesh state cabinet. The government of Uttar Pradesh is providing extra land free of cost for the further expansion and for the construction of a terminal. In 2012, the Uttar Pradesh government had issued formal orders allowing the landing and parking of private aircraft on the airstrip against a fee. According  to the government order, any private aircraft can land by paying Rs 500. There will be no parking charges for the first two hours, after which Rs 200 will be charged per day. The government gave the airstrip to private investors for their pilot training and aircraft maintenance engineering institutes. "The fresh government order for landing and parking is an extension of that project, because now the government will not have to bother much about activities like maintained, which will be taken care of by the institutes," said Swaroop. The procedure followed earlier to obtain permission for using the airstrip  used to be long. The owner of the private aircraft had to contact the respective district magistrate who would further contact the directorate which would take the measures required for landing of the aircraft. In 2018, the Yogi government expansion of the airstrip in Faizabad. The government later approved an international airport and sanctioned for acquisition of land. The airport is still not operational as of January 2022. Projected length. The state government has decided to acquire more than 280 acres of land around the airstrip and widen it to allow landing of bigger aircraft. Projected airstrip needs to have  a width of 45 meters and a length of 2.5 km.