Bilaspur Airport , officially known as Bilasa Devi Kevat Airport is located at Chakarbhatta, 10 kilometres south of Bilaspur, in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

of Chhattisgarh, India. Bilaspur Airport made by royal Airforce in 1942 oldest Airport of chhattisgarh. It is owned by the Airports Authority of India. In 1980s, airport was used by Vayudoot to provide flights to Bhopal, Nagpur, Mumbai and Delhi. Currently commercial scheduled flight are operating from the airport to

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is the only city to ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

Jabalpur Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. J ...

, Allahabad.

History

Built in 1942 it opened as RAF Station Bilaspur

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

(RAF), in the Central Provinces of British India. It was used as an airfield during World War II. It was used by 267 Squadron, 96 Squadron, 10 Squadron and other units. 673 Squadron undertook sporadic glider training and courses in jungle warfare in 1945 in Bilaspur. It never undertook operational duties because of the Japanese surrender. Some operational missions were undertaken however by pilots of this squadron detached to other units flying Dakotas and L-5 Sentinels. The squadron disbanded at Kargi Road, Bilaspur airstrip on 25 October 1945. After India got independence from Great Britain, the airfield was transferred to the war department of the Indian Government. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) took control of the airport, followed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Bilaspur was associated with Nagpur, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Raipur, Bhopal in 1988 through Vayudoot service. The

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

intends to take over the airport and establish a training facility for the special forces. The existing para-military commando training facility at Nahan, Himachal Pradesh is to be shifted to Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. The Army wants use of the entire airport while AAI has made a "conditional offer" of parting with 377 acres while retaining 56 acres for a

civil enclave A joint-use airport is an aerodrome that is used for both military aviation and civil aviation. They typically contain facilities of both a civil airport and a military air base. By country United States The United States has several joint-use ...

. On 7 December 2018 Bilaspur Airport got the commercial licence from

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (India) The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is a statutory body of the Government of India to regulate civil aviation in India. It became a statutory body under the Aircraft (Amendment) Act, 2020. The DGCA investigates aviation accidents a ...

for operating (19 seater Aircraft 2C VFR category) commercial flights.On 27 January 2021 Bilaspur Airport got the commercial licence from

for operating (72 seater Aircraft 3C VFR category) commercial flights. On 27 January 2021 Bilaspur Airport got the commercial licence from

for operating (72 seater Aircraft 3C VFR category) commercial flights. On 2 February 2021, Union Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri announced that commercial flight services will be operational from Bilaspur airport to Prayagraj, Delhi, Bhopal, Jabalpur from 1 March 2021.

Airfield

Elevation of the airfield is 276 metres above mean sea level. Alliance Air Aircraft at Bilaspur Airport 566836888

Runway 17/35 is 1,535 metres long and 30 metres wide with turning pads at both ends. A 630 metre long taxiway connects the runway to a small Helipad cum

apron An apron is a garment that is worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body. The word comes from old French ''napron'' meaning a small piece of cloth, however over time "a napron" became "an apron", through a linguistics process cal ...

. The runway is too small for commercial aircraft like Boeing 737 and Airbus A 320, which need a 2,190 metres in length and 45 metres in width (6,860 ft.) takeoff distance. This means many low-cost carriers like

AirAsia India AirAsia India is an Indian low-cost airline headquartered in Bangalore (Bengaluru), Karnataka. The airline was a joint venture between Tata Sons and AirAsia Bhd. Tata Sons currently holds 100% stake in the airline, after AirAsia Bhd sold its ...

and

GoAir Go First, founded as GoAir, is an Indian ultra-low-cost airline based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is owned by the Indian business conglomerate Wadia Group. In October 2017, it was the fifth largest airline in India with an 8.4% passenger ma ...

, which use a single plane type, cannot serve the airport unless the runway is upgraded.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Indefinite strike

On 26 October 2019, numbers of local residents sat on an indefinite strike to protest against the Central and State Government for demanding Air connectivity in Bilaspur at a City Townhall named Raghvendra Rao Bhawan. Their demands were as follows: Bilaspur Should get a Full-fledged 4C Airport; Connectivity to Metro cities like

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, Bengaluru; Runway extension of the Airport in order to accommodate wide-bodied Aircraft in Bilaspur Airport. As of March 2021. Bilaspur Airport has been operationalized for 3C operation and having 4X weekly flights to

via

and Allahabad. Local residents of Bilaspur district continuing their strike by asking for Airport up-gradation from 3C to 4C Category.

Social media reaction

People of Bilaspur started gathering on social media

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

an
Instagram
start tweeting/posting for Air connectivity in Bilaspur to tag twitter handles of Ministry of Civil Aviation, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Member of Parliament and Legislative Assembly of Bilaspur Constituency to draw their attention towards development of Bilaspur Airport and demand their action on it. A Social media group named "BAAC" (Bilaspur Airport Awareness Campaign) on Twitter led the hashtags related tweets of Bilaspur Airport and provide important information and updates regarding Bilaspur Airport to its followers.

References

External links

{{authority control Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh Airports in Chhattisgarh Military airbases established in 1942 1942 establishments in India