Ram Mandir Event: Ayodhya airport receives over 39 private jets in 2 days as VIPs throng temple

Ayodhya's newly-inaugurated airport welcomed more than 39 private jets in less than 30 hours as Bollywood celebrities, business tycoons, artists, and sports persons flocked to attend the historic inauguration of the Ram Temple on Monday, January 22.

The rush was intense; many chartered flights had to hover for up to 30 minutes over Ayodhya and surrounding areas waiting for clearance, according to flight tracking data monitored by India Today's Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) team.

As per Swedish plane tracker Flightradar24, Maharishi Valmiki International Airport received the highest number of VIP flights from Mumbai ahead of the consecration ceremony of the idol of



Ram Lalla at the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple.

Of the 13 Mumbai-Ayodhya private flights, six landed on January 21, while the remaining seven, carrying celebrities like actor couples Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal-Katrina Kaif, arrived the following day. Hyderabad was the second most common departure point with seven flights, followed by Delhi (5), Lucknow (4), Jamnagar (3), and one each from London, Jodhpur, Bhopal, Trichy, Bengaluru, Dehradun, and Bhubaneswar.

A group of Bollywood celebrities was flown in an Embraer EMB-135BJ Legacy aircraft with the registration number VT-VSS, operated by Delhi-based VRS Ventures Limited. This business jet can carry 14 passengers.