The government has 17 airstrips across the state, most of which are used either by politicians or senior bureaucrats. According to sources in the government, orders have been issued to the district magistrates to identify land for upgrading and expanding the runways.

“Currently, the runways in some places are not long enough for big aircraft,” said a government official. He, however, refused to divulge the budget for the expansion process.

Before Mayawati took over the reins, the state had 14 airstrips — at Aligarh, Ambedkarnagar, Etawah (Saifai), Farrukhabad, Faizabad, Ghazipur, Jhansi, Kushinagar, Lakhimpur, Lalitpur, Meerut, Shrawasti, Sonebhadra and Sultanpur. All of them were under the direct control of the state government. Some of these airstrips also have small airports. The Mayawati government also planned civil airports at Azamgarh, Chitrakoot and Moradabad, where work is under progress.

The government has deployed RITES, a government consultancy, to study the “resurfacing of the existing runways” of eight airstrips. It also includes upgradation of associated pavements and allied works, planning, design, detailed engineering, construction and management of the airports and airstrips.

The consultancy has been assigned the districts of Sultanpur, Shrawasti, Meerut, Kushinagar, Chitrakoot, Faizabad, Moradabad and Azamgarh to conduct the study.

The government had recently tried to hand over its airstrips to private companies to set up flight training institutes and aircraft maintenance engineering institutes. Due to the slowdown, only three companies could start these institutes in Aligarh and Faizabad.

The government had also left these airstrips open for private aircraft owners for take-offs, landings or parking for a fee.

Wings of state govtAircraft
* Hawker Beechcraft 900 XP (jet aircraft)
* Beechcraft Premier (jet Aircraft)
* Super Kingair B2-100 (Twin Engine)
* Super Kingair 300 LW (Twin Engine)
* Kingair 390 (Twin Engine)
* Bonanza (Single Engine)

The Kingair 390 aircraft met with an accident in Allahabad on February 22, 2008, and no repair has been done as yet. Instead of sending two pilots, the govt sent only one pilot who had less than five hours of experience of flying the aircraft.