SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 11 September 2024, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 25 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Which of the following Indian states has the least number of operational airports as of 2022?

(a)Karnataka
(b)Mizoram
(c)Maharashtra
(d)Bihar

Answer

Why

Correct - B. Of the four states listed, Mizoram has the fewest operational airports - a single one, Lengpui Airport near Aizawl.

Karnataka and Maharashtra each run several, headed by Bengaluru and Mumbai, and Bihar has three, at Patna, Gaya and Darbhanga.

On the 2022 position the stem asks about, option (b) is the lowest count of the four.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Karnataka — Karnataka has Kempegowda International at Bengaluru plus Mangaluru, Hubballi, Belagavi and Mysuru among others. It is one of the better-served states in the country, not a candidate for the fewest.
(c)
Maharashtra — Maharashtra runs Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International along with Pune, Nagpur and several regional fields. Its airport count is among the highest of any state.
(d)
Bihar — Bihar has three operational airports - Patna, Gaya and Darbhanga, the last opened to civil flights in 2020. Three is a small number, but still more than Mizoram's one.

Concept

How many airports a state has follows two things: traffic and terrain.

Mizoram is small, hilly and thinly populated, and a single airport at Lengpui serves the capital. Large-economy states with several metro-scale cities carry many more.

The number is also a moving target. Under UDAN, launched in 2016 to connect unserved and underserved airstrips, new airports keep entering service - which is why the stem pins itself to 2022.

The question compares only these four states. Other small states also operate a single airport, so this is not a claim about the whole of India.

Key facts

Lengpui Airport, near Aizawl, is Mizoram's only operational airport.
Bihar's operational airports are at Patna, Gaya and Darbhanga.
Kempegowda International Airport at Bengaluru is Karnataka's busiest airport.
UDAN, launched in 2016, adds operational airports and routes each year, so counts of this kind are dated.

Study next

UDAN-RCS and the categories of unserved and underserved airportsThe Airports Authority of India and airport privatisationAERA and the statutory definition of a major airport

Common traps

Reading the stem as which state has the fewest airports in India, rather than among these four options.
Forgetting Darbhanga, which began civil operations in 2020 and takes Bihar to three.

Aviation appears in this cycle mostly through schemes and regulation rather than raw counts.

UDAN's route and airport coverage is asked on 12 Sep 2024, 16:00, General Awareness Q.18, and the AERA Amendment Act 2021 on 12 Sep 2024, 09:00, General Awareness Q.19.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.