NEW DELHI: This is perhaps the tightest deadline that the Airports Authority of India AAI ) has ever accepted for constructing a brand new passenger terminal. The authority on Wednesday decided to build a terminal at the defence air base of Allahabad before the holy city hosts the Ardh Kumbh in January 2019.UP CM Yogi Adityanath had asked the aviation ministry recently to see if Allahabad could get a big passenger terminal before the Ardh Kumbh. “Allahabad currently has only ATR aircraft operations of Air India.The city’s demand for air travel is huge. We have accepted building a brand new passenger terminal at the joint use airport (civil-cum-defence) in time for the January 2019 Ardh Kumbh. This is a major challenge as it will have to be done in 16 months,” AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra told TOI.The state government will give land to AAI for the purpose. “The runway at Allahabad is long enough to have planes like Airbus A-320 or Boeing 737,” said Mohapatra. Once the new terminal is ready, you can fly to the Sangam city on these aircraft at lower fares.Meanwhile, Rajkot in Gujarat will get a new airport. “The existing Rajkot airport is a very land-constrained one on which only turboprop aircraft can operate. The Gujarat government has agreed to give us 2,400 acres... The airport will be developed at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore,” he said.