Gaurav Mishra (Khajuraho)<\/span>9 minutes ago<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Khajuraho Airport in Madhya Pradesh has secured the top position in the country in the National Customer Satisfaction Index released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The interesting part is that no domestic or commercial flights are currently operating from the airport. The survey assessed 33 parameters, including cleanliness, parking facilities, passenger amenities, the environment and security.<\/p>\n Dainik Bhaskar<\/strong> investigated the situation on the ground and spoke to Airport Director Santosh Singh over the phone, as well as tourist guide Asharam Pal. The airport has 36 employees and 20\u201325 cleaning staff.<\/p>\n The airport is deserted due to the absence of passengers.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n No regular passenger crowd at the terminal<\/strong><\/p>\n When the Dainik Bhaskar team reached Khajuraho Airport, there was no regular passenger crowd at the terminal. Armed CISF personnel were stationed at the entrance and stopped the team from entering.<\/p>\n The security guard said there were no flights operating and no passengers were coming, so entry was allowed only with permission from the authorities.<\/p>\n Inside the terminal, CISF personnel, Airports Authority staff and cleaning workers were carrying out their duties. The road leading to the airport and the premises itself were spotless, while the terminal building appeared deserted.<\/p>\n Only airport officials and outsourced employees were present. The parking area contained only staff vehicles.<\/p>\n The airport has a runway approximately 2,286 metres long and 45 metres wide. It is equipped with an Instrument Landing System (ILS) and night-landing facilities.<\/p>\n However, these facilities are currently not being used because regular commercial flights are not operating. According to local residents, charter aircraft carrying leaders and VIPs and VVIPs occasionally land here. Airlines such as SpiceJet and FlyBig, which operate under the UDAN scheme, are also currently not operating.<\/p>\n The airport remains completely deserted these days.<\/span><\/p>\n Last flight departed on June 30<\/strong><\/p>\n Khajuraho Airport Director Santosh Singh said the ranking was based on feedback from passengers who travelled between January and June, including foreign tourists.<\/p>\n According to the airport authorities, only two flights operated until June. The first was IndiGo’s Delhi\u2013Agra\u2013Khajuraho\u2013Varanasi service, while the second was Kingfisher’s Agra\u2013Khajuraho\u2013Varanasi service.<\/p>\n There were no regular commercial flights in July and August. Around 40,000 passengers travelled through the airport between January and June 2026.<\/p>\n IndiGo’s last flight operated on June 30. Around 154 passengers arrived on the flight, while approximately 130 passengers departed.<\/p>\n How did Khajuraho secure the No. 1 ranking?<\/strong><\/p>\n According to Santosh Singh, Director of Khajuraho Airport, an external agency conducted the survey for around 7\u20138 days in March. The survey covered 60 of 63 airports across the country and was based on feedback from passengers who had travelled between January and June.<\/p>\n Passengers rated the airports on 33 parameters, including check-in facilities, security, terminal cleanliness, staff behaviour, waiting time, food and beverages, information systems, crowd levels and the overall passenger experience.<\/p>\n The first round was conducted in 2025 and the second in 2026. Khajuraho Airport scored 4.99 in the first round and 4.98 in the second. Aurangabad also scored 4.98. The Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) scores of 41 airports were up to 4.78, while 19 airports recorded below-average scores.<\/p>\n Tourist guides say there should be 3\u20135 flights<\/strong><\/p>\n Tourist guide Parshuram Tiwari said Khajuraho is an international tourist destination and is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In such circumstances, he said, reliable air connectivity is essential for tourism.<\/p>\n With regular flights suspended, passengers are forced to rely on road transport and other modes of travel. He said there should be at least three to five flights operating from Khajuraho and added that local leaders had not strongly advocated for better air connectivity.<\/p>\n Guide Asharam Pal, who is associated with the tourism industry, said the main tourist season in Khajuraho runs from October to March, while in Italy the tourism season is considered to be around July and August.<\/p>\n He said the situation is particularly difficult this year, with tourism reaching its lowest level. He attributed the decline partly to the Iran\u2013America and Russia\u2013Ukraine wars, which have resulted in fewer tourists travelling to India.<\/p>\n He also said the India Tourism office and air connectivity operations had been shifted from Khajuraho to Indore. The tourism industry is now demanding that the government ensure at least one flight operates from Khajuraho throughout the year, which would provide a major boost to tourism.<\/p>\n Flights suspended during the off-season<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the Airport Director, flight operations depend on several factors, including airline availability and operational slots. He said passenger numbers generally decline during the summer and monsoon. The best time to visit Khajuraho is considered to be from October to March.<\/p>\n Air India flight to start from September 1<\/strong><\/p>\n Air India will begin regular service on the Delhi\u2013Khajuraho\u2013Delhi route from September 1 using an Airbus aircraft. The flight will arrive in Khajuraho from Delhi at 11.50am and depart for Delhi at 12.30pm. IndiGo is also preparing to resume its Airbus service from October 1.<\/p>\n Khajuraho Airport began operations in the 1960s. Flight services remained regular until 2019. Operations were disrupted for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, and services have faced repeated interruptions since then.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gaurav Mishra (Khajuraho)9 minutes ago Khajuraho Airport in Madhya Pradesh has secured the top position in the country in the National Customer Satisfaction Index released by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The interesting part is that no domestic or commercial flights are currently operating from the airport. The survey assessed 33 parameters, including cleanliness,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28695,28700,28697,28698,28694,20284,28696,28699],"class_list":["post-33068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nation","tag-aai","tag-airport-facilities","tag-airport-ranking","tag-india-aviation","tag-khajuraho-airport","tag-madhya-pradesh","tag-national-customer-satisfaction-index","tag-passenger-amenities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/petrolnews.in\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.bhaskarassets.com\/web2images\/1884\/2026\/08\/15\/cover_1786794297.gif\")
<\/picture><\/div>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/images.bhaskarassets.com\/web2images\/521\/2026\/08\/15\/inner1_1786794329.gif\")
<\/picture><\/div>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/images.bhaskarassets.com\/web2images\/521\/2026\/08\/15\/inner_1786794360.gif\")
<\/picture><\/div>\n