Air India has met the demand for more flights from Gaya by stretching the suspension cut-off date till June 30.

Usually, flight operations at Gaya airport begin from October 1 and ends on April 30. While Air India continues its operation till April 30, almost all the foreign airways suspend scheduled flights by March 31.

This year, at least four Air India flights between Gaya and New Delhi have got an extension up to June 30. This is for the first time that scheduled flights will be operated after April 30.

These four flights include Delhi-Gaya-Yangon and Yangon-Gaya-Delhi (Tuesday) and Delhi-Gaya-Varanasi-Delhi on Friday and Sunday. Apart from Air India, other airlines like Sri Lanka-based Mihin Lanka, Thailand-based Thai airways, Bhutan-based Druk Airways, Myanmar-based Myanmar Airlines and Golden Myanmar operate international flights from Gaya. The flights are operated on sectors include Bangkok-Gaya-Varanasi-Bangkok, Delhi-Gaya-Varanasi-Delhi, Yangon-Gaya-Calcutta, Calcutta-Gaya-Yangon, Delhi-Gaya-Yangon, Yangon-Gaya-Delhi, Yangon-Gaya-Yangon, Paro-Gaya-Paro, Paro-Gaya-Bangkok and Bangkok-Gaya-Paro.

Gaya airport director Samar Kumar Biswas said: "I have come to know about extension of the flight schedule of Air India. But I am yet to get a written confirmation. After getting the written confirmation, Airports Authority of India (AAI) will start the preparations accordingly."

Last year, Gaya district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Agarwal too had sent a letter to then tourism department principal secretary Deepak Prasad. In the letter, Agarwal had requested the principal secretary to take up the matter with civil aviation department or the AAI officials so that some domestic flights having connectivity with Gaya could be started during the 17-day Pitripaksh Mela. Usually, Pitripaksh Mela is held in September and last year it started on September 8.

Bodhgaya Travel Association president Suresh Singh said: "It is a good effort. It can boost tourism potential of Bodhgaya. There are several tourists who are financially weak and cannot afford hotel expense during peak season. After the peak season (from October to February), hotels offer discount and the airfare also goes down when there is not too much rush."