Vehicular movement and parking on the airport premises will undergo a complete makeover from next week.

Parking is already prohibited in the first four rows of the existing zone till January 30 according to a security alert issued by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security following the Pathankot terror attack.

Efforts are now on to completely prohibit parking in the existing parking area in front of the terminal building because of security issues.

Airport director Rajendra Singh Lahauria said parking arrangements would be shifted in the two new parking bays developed along the approach roads to the terminal building. The new parking arrangement would include issue of tickets for the same at two parking booths recently put up on the approach roads.

However, charges for the new parking bay are yet to be decided.

Besides parking, authorities have also come up with a new arrangement for vehicular movement on the airport premises. Under the new system, vehicles would enter from the eastern gate on Peer Ali Marg, commonly known as airport road, and exit from western gate on the same road.

"After the recent terrorist attack at the Air Force Base in Pathankot, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (under Union ministry of civil aviation) issued a high alert for all airports. As per security guidelines, vehicular parking is prohibited within 100 metres of the terminal building. We prohibited parking in the first four lanes in the existing parking area. The alert would be in effect till January 30. However, we are going to permanently prohibit parking in front of the terminal building," Lahauria told The Telegraph.

According to the security guidelines for aerodromes prescribed by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), there should be a minimum distance of 100 metres between the airport terminal building and the parking area but in case of Patna airport, it is even less than 50 metres.

Aviation experts also iterated on the need to shift parking area. "Patna's is a sensitive airport because of its proximity to Nepal and Bangladesh and the porous border. The distance of existing parking area from the terminal building is even less than 50 metres and vehicles are rarely checked with under-vehicle bomb detector mirror or similar equipment. These are serious security loopholes. I would like to cite the example of Glasgow (Scotland) airport, where a green jeep full of explosives rammed the airport terminal in June 2007. Here in Patna, the situation is more sensitive as the distance between the parking area and the terminal building is quite less," said Mirza Faizan, a city-based aviation scientist settled in the US at present.

Patna airport, marked as one of the most critical airports of the country because of its short runway, is spread over 52 acres. The two new parking lots have been developed in front of the state hangar and beside the Patna meteorological centre observatory.

Airport director Lahauria claimed that parking would be shifted to the two new bays from first week of February. "Both parking bays are ready and we intend to start using them from the first week of February. The existing parking lot would then only be used for parking of VVIP and VIP vehicles," said Lahauria.

Sources at the airport claimed that once parking shifts to the new bays, the terminal building would be extended over the existing parking space.

Once the extended terminal building is ready, the counters of different airlines would be seen on the front lane of the existing parking area.