Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport is on a growth trajectory in passenger flow in spite of infrastructure constraints.

In the past fiscal, the city airport registered 14.5 per cent growth in passenger flow in comparison to 2013-14.

According to official figures of Airports Authority of India (AAI) for annual passenger and aircraft traffic for the 2014-15 fiscal, the airport handled 11,96,540 passengers the past financial year.

Going by the comparative growth figures of other main airports in the country, Patna ranks 19th as far as percentage increase in passengers' flow over the previous year is concerned.

Gaya International Airport, the only other major airport in the state, has recorded the second highest growth in terms of passenger flow among 45 main airports in the country in 2014-15. The airport has registered a growth of 35.4 per cent in the last fiscal as compared to 2013-14. Bagdogra airport in north Bengal is first with 44.3 per cent growth.

The figures were released by the AAI headquarters earlier this month.

From a negative growth in 2012-13 - the only such instance in the past eight years - Patna airport registered 4 per cent growth in terms of passenger flow in 2013-14. That increased to 14.5 per cent in the last fiscal. (See chart)

Airport officials attributed the rise in passenger traffic over the past two years to increase in the number of flights.

"The number of flights operating from Patna airport was around 10 in 2012-13. That has now increased to 18. For instance, IndiGo has increased the number of its flights from three in 2012-13 to nine as of now. Similarly, GoAir operates four flights against three in 2012-13," said a senior executive of a private airline at Patna airport.

As of Tuesday, 12 flights fly from Patna to Delhi. Another five flights operate on the Patna-Calcutta route, while three more connect Patna with the country's financial capital, Mumbai.

The airline authorities consider drop in airfares as another major reason for the increase in passenger flow at the city airport. "Ticket prices for flights operating on the Patna-Delhi route has gone down from Rs 8,000 in 2011-12 to Rs 4,000-5,000 now. Rates for flights to Mumbai have also gone down. From Rs 9,000-10,000 in 2011-12, Mumbai flight rates have come down to Rs 7,000-8,000. The drop in airfare is because of rise in the number of flights operating from the city airport, which in turn, has taken up passenger flow," said an executive of a private airline.

Experts, however, said increasing number of flights without adding to the existing destinations now would not help in substantial passenger traffic growth.

"Patna airport has reached a certain level of saturation and rise in passenger traffic growth would come only from addition of new destinations. So, it is essential for the airlines and the airport authorities to operate flights to cities not yet connected with Patna," said Atul Singh, the executive director of Centre for Aviation, Policy, Safety and Research based in Delhi.

Atul added that the reason behind the stupendous rise in passenger traffic from the Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport in 2008-09 (60.4 per cent) and 2009-10 (51.8 per cent) was operation of flights to then new cities such as Indore, Lucknow and Goa.

"That was the time when civil aviation was booming in Patna. The situation, however, changed for the worse mostly for two reasons - political instability and non-issuance of operating licence by the director-general of civil aviation. The civil aviation regulator is not issuing operating licence for the city airport since 2012 because of the short runway and obstacles in the aircraft approach funnel. The political instability has adversely affected the economy too, resulting in reduced flow of corporate passenger flow," added Atul.

Fliers are although calling out for improved amenities at the airport.

"There is hardly anything for the entertainment of the passengers in the security-hold area. There is no Wi-Fi or any smoking zone. Even the number of seats is less in the area as a result of which half of the passengers have to stand waiting for their flights. Besides, facilities like spa or shopping area can keep passengers engaged," said Rishabh Thakur, a lawyer in Bangalore originally from Patna.