PATNA, Aug. 29 -- The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is set to finalise within the next two weeks the tender for constructing immigration and customs facilities at Patna airport, paving the way for the handling of international flights even as operational constraints currently prevent wide-bodied aircraft from operating from the airport, officials said on Friday. The AAI floated a Rs.3.62 crore tender on August 10, with bids opened on August 26, for converting the domestic terminal of Patna's Jai Prakash Narayan International Airport into an integrated terminal by constructing immigration and customs counters and other essential internal partitions. The contract is expected to be finalised within another week or two, with the work likely to be completed by January next year, officials of the civil aviation department said. The new facilities will allow international passengers to complete immigration, customs and baggage-related formalities at Patna itself. Passengers taking connecting flights from metro airports will also be able to have their baggage booked through to their international destination, officials said. The move comes months after Bihar's civil aviation department floated a tender on March 25 inviting domestic airlines to launch direct international services from Patna and Gaya to destinations including Kathmandu, Sharjah, Bangkok, Colombo and Singapore under the state's new destination policy. "The Bihar government has approved the new destination policy to stimulate and facilitate the establishment of air services to new international destinations by providing VGF (viability gap funding) or incentives to kick-start such operations," said civil aviation department secretary Nilesh Ramachandran Deore. In the initial phase, flights are planned on the Patna-Kathmandu route and from Gaya to all five identified international destinations. Airlines will have to operate the services for a minimum of two days and up to seven days a week. The state will provide financial support for six months initially, extendable by another six months depending on performance, with no support beyond the VGF component. Patna airport is also being developed as a hub under the hub-and-spoke model, under which passengers from Bihar and neighbouring regions can be brought to Patna through feeder flights before connecting to international destinations. The model is expected to improve international connectivity while allowing passengers to complete customs and immigration formalities at Patna itself. Deore said the inclusion of Patna airport in the hub-and-spoke model would significantly ease international travel for passengers from Bihar by providing immigration, customs and baggage-processing facilities locally. The development follows the Rs.1,200 crore-plus modernisation of Patna airport, with its new terminal inaugurated in May 2025. The 65,150-sq-metre terminal can handle 3,000 passengers during peak hours and has increased the airport's annual passenger-handling capacity from around 30 lakh to one crore. It has 64 check-in counters and five aerobridges. However, Patna airport's short operational runway remains a major constraint for international connectivity. The runway's landing distance is reduced because of threshold displacement necessitated by the secretariat clock tower at one end and overhead electricity cables on the Phulwarisharif side, preventing the operation of wide-bodied aircraft with capacities of more than 300 passengers. Former Patna airport director Atul Dikshit said an AAI feasibility study conducted during his tenure from 2005 to 2009 had identified the Airbus A319, having a maximum passenger capacity of 156, as one of the best suitable aircraft for the runway length at Patna airport. Airbus A320 (180 passenger capacity) aircraft currently operate from Patna but face load restrictions during peak summer when high temperatures affect aircraft performance. "Bigger, wide-bodied aircraft cannot operate from Patna airport due to threshold displacement of the runway because of the secretariat clock tower," Dikshit said, adding that international services from Patna would therefore initially have to rely on A320s or Boeing 737s suitable for short-haul flights of up to around three hours. Such aircraft could serve some Southeast Asian and Gulf destinations, he said, but would limit the scope for longer-haul international services from Patna. Airline operators have also raised concerns that, despite the Bihar cabinet's approval of the new destination policy and the terminal's modernisation, operational constraints at Patna airport have not been adequately addressed. They said the restrictions effectively limit the airport to mid-sized, single-aisle narrow-body aircraft, constraining the potential for long-haul international connectivity....