Surat Airport

Surat Airport
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner/Operator Airports Authority of India
Serves
Location Surat, Gujarat, India
Elevation AMSL 16 ft / 5 m
Coordinates 21°7′3.57″N 072°44′42.93″E / 21.1176583°N 72.7452583°E / 21.1176583; 72.7452583Coordinates: 21°7′3.57″N 072°44′42.93″E / 21.1176583°N 72.7452583°E / 21.1176583; 72.7452583
Map
STV
STV
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
04/22 9,530 2,905 Asphalt
Statistics (Apr '17 – March '18)
Passengers 681,465 (Increase250.0%)
Aircraft movements 10,762 (Increase131.4%)
Source: AAI[1][2]

Surat Airport[3] (IATA: STV, ICAO: VASU) is a customs airport located in Magdalla, 11 kilometres (7 mi) southwest of Surat in the western Indian state of Gujarat with a total area of 770 acres (312 ha). It was awarded the custom-notified status on 9 June 2018. The airport currently caters to scheduled airline services across major destinations in India as well as non schedule private aircraft and is also home to a flying training school.[4][5]

History

Surat Airport was built by the state government of Gujarat. During the 1990s, Vayudoot and Gujarat Airways flew to Surat Airport, but discontinued their flights in May 1994 and January 2000, respectively. The airport, with a 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) airstri and an adjoining 60 by 40 metres (200 ft × 130 ft) apron was then transferred to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in 2003, who began to modernise the airport.[6] After a failed initial attempt in July 2004 to connect Surat with Mumbai and Bhavnagar due to poor airport infrastructure,[7] the now defunct airline Air Deccan operated an ATR 42 aircraft daily from November 2004 to July 2005.[8]

In 2007, the airport's 1,400-metre long runway was extended to 2,250 metres, to enable landing of larger aircraft. Subsequently, commercial services resumed on 6 May 2007 with an Indian Airlines Airbus A319 flight to Delhi flagged off by Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel at 12:40 IST.[9] However in October 2007, the runway was reportedly damaged due to poor quality of work during its extension.[10] As a result, a limitation was imposed on the runway to not allow more than two operations of aircraft having weight of over 75,000 kilogram up to its rated capacity of 80,000 kg until the runway was repaired.[11] In 2009, the AAI announced that the airport required 864 hectares of land, and the Gujarat government had allocated such land for the development. Planned improvements at the airport included a capacity to handle up to seven jets at a time and extending the runway to 3810 meters. The extension work of the runway was to have begun in 2009.[12] The November 2014 collision of a buffalo with a SpiceJet Boeing 737 prompted AAI to address the safety issues at the airport and extend the runway from 2250 metres to 2,905 metres at a cost of Rs. 50 crore.[11] The runway extension and repair was taken up in three phases. In the first phase, the runway was extended by 655 metres. In the second and third phases respectively, the damaged section of 185 metres was dismantled and then the entire runway was re-surfaced.[13] The landing restrictions were withdrawn upon completion of work and DGCA approval was given in May 2018.[14] On 6 February 2018, AirAsia announced direct flights from Surat to Bengaluru.

Structure

The new Surat airport terminal building was inaugurated on 27 February 2009 by Union Minister of State for Petroleum Dinsha Patel.[12] The terminal building, constructed at a cost of Rs 40 crore, has a total floor area of 8,500 sq mt and can handle 240 passengers per hour. It is equipped with CCTV cameras, two baggage carousels in the arrivals hall and one hand baggage X-ray machine, among other modern facilities like two air bridges with Visual Docking Guidance System, two elevators and two escalators, and a 120-seat lounge. Coffee Culture and other shops have been added.

In February 2017, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) approved the plans for expansion of the terminal building from the existing 3,600 square metres to 9,346 square metres and doubling of first floor carpet area to 6,172 square metres. This would be achieved by extending the present terminal building on both the sides taking the total area of the terminal building at 9,346 sq. [15]

The adjoining concrete apron measures 235 by 90 metres, and is linked by two taxiways to its sole runway that is oriented 04/22, is 2250 metres long and 45 metres wide which has already been extended to 2905 metres till 2017. The airfield is equipped with night landing facilities and an instrument landing system (ILS) as well as navigational facilities like DVOR/DME and an NDB. [16]

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Air India Delhi[17]
AirAsia India Bangalore[18]
Air Odisha Bhavnagar
Alliance Air Mumbai[17]
IndiGoBangalore, Chennai[19] Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai[20]
SpiceJet Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jaisalmer (begins 30 November 2018),[21] Kolkata, Patna, Mumbai, Varanasi (begins 30 November 2018),[21] Udaipur (begins 30 November 2018)[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Traffic News for the month of March 2018: Annexure-III" (PDF). Airports Authority of India. 1 May 2018. p. 4. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  2. ↑ "Traffic News for the month of March 2018: Annexure-II" (PDF). Airports Authority of India. 1 May 2018. p. 4. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  3. ↑ "surat international airport: Surat has got international airport status | Surat News - Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
  4. ↑ "City gets flying academy, youth's aspirations new wings and now it is the 2 International Airport to connect gulf reigion after ahmedbad in the state to connect Dubai and Muscat". Times of India. 21 October 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  5. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  6. ↑ "Airports Authority of India Starts Work on Surat Airport". Business Standard. 16 Feb 2004. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  7. ↑ "Air Deccan's maiden Surat flight washed out". rediff.com. 19 July 2004. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  8. ↑ "Air Deccan suspends Surat operations". Business Standard. 18 July 2005. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  9. ↑ "Magdalla airport upgraded for connectivity". Times of India. 26 Feb 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  10. ↑ "Runway damage scars still hover over Surat airport". The Times of India. 23 February 2012. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  11. 1 2 "Runway extension work speeded up at airport". The Times of India. 15 November 2014. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  12. 1 2 "Surat airport: AAI asks govt for 864 ha". DNA. 28 Feb 2009. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  13. ↑ "Work to extend Surat airport runway to begin in July". The Times of India. 20 June 2015. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  14. ↑ "DGCA approves 2,290 metre runway at Surat airport". The Times of India. 26 May 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  15. ↑ "Glimpses of new Surat airport terminal building(Photos)". DeshGujarat. Archived from the original on 24 December 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  16. ↑ AAI website, 18 August 2010, archived from the original on 28 January 2012, retrieved 31 October 2011
  17. 1 2 "Air India and Alliance Air schedules". airindia.com. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  18. ↑ Press Trust of India. "AirAsia India to connect Surat from Bengaluru starting June | Business Standard News". Wap.business-standard.com. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  19. ↑ "New Flights Information, Status & Schedule". Official Website of IndiGo. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  20. ↑ "Surat gets air connection to five more destinations | Surat News - Times of India". M.timesofindia.com. Retrieved 2018-07-01.
  21. 1 2 3 "SpiceJet schedules". spicejet.com. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
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