Khajuraho Airport ranked best in India, but has no flights

Khajuraho Airport has been ranked the best in India, even though it currently has no commercial flights running.

The ranking comes from the 2026 National Service and Customer Satisfaction Index survey by the Airports Authority of India, which assessed airports on passenger facilities, cleanliness, security and service quality rather than flight numbers.

Commercial flights at the airport have been suspended through July and August because of runway and other technical works, with operations expected to resume around October.

Prior to the suspension, Khajuraho Airport had only two scheduled flights, connecting it to Delhi and Varanasi.

Airport director Santosh Singh said the ranking “reflected the hard work of the entire airport staff and the trust of passengers,” and noted that the survey had been conducted while flights were still operating.

Singh said flights would resume once the ongoing runway work was completed.

Bhopal’s Raja Bhoj Airport came third nationally in the survey, and Khajuraho had also topped the AAI’s customer satisfaction survey in December 2025.

Residents have questioned how the airport can be ranked best in the country while running zero flights this July and August.

The airport’s runway measures 2,286 metres by 45 metres, and its terminal building, opened in January 2016, cost around Rs 90 crore to build.

The airport primarily caters to visitors travelling to the Khajuraho Group of Monuments, a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognised for its medieval temple carvings.

The temple complex, constructed between the 9th and 12th centuries under the Chandela dynasty, remains one of central India’s most visited heritage attractions.

Khajuraho is best known internationally for its UNESCO World Heritage-listed group of temples, and the airport primarily serves tourists visiting the site as well as pilgrims and business travellers to the region.

The Airports Authority of India conducts its National Service and Customer Satisfaction Index survey periodically to benchmark airports on the quality of the passenger experience they offer, independent of how much traffic they handle.

(Image: Photo by Z thomas, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)