The airport terminal building is in for another bout of expansion to cater to the ever increasing footfall of travellers.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has closed down the ceremonial lounge at the ground floor and converted it into an additional security hold area to provide some breathing space to one of the most constrained airports in the country.

The new terminal building sanctioned by the Union cabinet, to be constructed at a cost of Rs 1,217 crore, is still at least three-and-a-half years away.

“We have shut the ceremonial lounge located at the eastern end of the terminal building and the construction of an additional security hold area by using porta cabins (portable cabins) is underway there. It will add space for another 400 passengers. We intend to complete it by mid-November,” Patna airport director Rajender Singh Lahauria said.

Airport sources said the extension of the security hold area will come in handy during winter when fog reduces visibility during the major part of the day, leading to congestion, flight diversion and no space to cater to a several hundred passengers stranded there.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Hyderabad-based NCC Limited (Formerly known as Nagarjuna Construction Company Limited), which has been awarded the contract to construct the new terminal building, visited the Patna airport to see the premises.

“A team of NCC Limited is expected to visit again in the coming days to chalk out the construction schedule,” an airport source told The Telegraph.

The airport also saw the beginning of the first direct flight between Patna and Guwahati on Wednesday.

Operated by SpiceJet, Flight SG–461 left Guwahati at 8.10am and landed in Patna at 9.33am, two minutes ahead of its scheduled arrival. Flight SG–462 took off from Patna at 10.05am (10 minutes behind the scheduled departure time of 9.55am) and arrived at Guwahati at 11.20am, around 10 minutes behind schedule.

Welcoming the new daily flight and expressing happiness about it, Lahauria said: “The gap between the Ganga and Brahmaputra river has been bridged today and this is our ‘Navratra special’ for the devotees of Goddess Durga, who want to visit Kamakhya during this auspicious period.”

Lahauria added that the new flight will not only add to influx of tourists to cultural, historical and religious places in Bihar, but will also enable hassle-free travel for devotees, students, and businessmen to Guwahati.

Various trade bodies, including the Bihar Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BCCI), in the state had been demanding a direct flight between Patna and Guwahati for a long time.