The Defence Ministry has rejected the UP government’s request to reschedule maintenance work at Agra’s Kheria airport , which will last six months and threatens to write off the tourist season. But it has agreed to open the runway on certain dates to allow big chartered planes to land so that the scheduled tours are not cancelled. 

The Indian Air Force, which controls the airport, has decided to take up maintenance and upgrading work from October 1 to March 31 next year. For this, it will close a major part of the airport which would not leave enough space for the big chartered planes to land. 

The UP Tourism Department had informed the Defence Ministry that a number of chartered planes were already scheduled to land in Agra from different parts of the world during this period. 

On Wednesday, the Defence Ministry called a meeting to discuss the issue. Officials from the Air Force, Civil Aviation Ministry, Airports Authority of India and the UP government attended the meeting chaired by RK Mathur, Special