Surat Airport
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Surat Airport is a
customs airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longe ...
serving Surat and Southern Gujarat. It is located in
Magdalla The Port of Magdalla is a port in western India, located on the southern bank of the Tapi River, around 10 km from Surat. It is operated by Gujarat Maritime Board. About the Port It is a medium-sized port. There are various types of vessel ...
, situated 12 km (6.4 mi) from the city centre. It has a total area of 770 acres (312 ha), and is the second busiest airport in
Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
after Ahmedabad, in terms of both aircraft movements and passenger traffic. It was awarded the status of a customs airport on 9 June 2018. It is also home to a flying training school.


History

Surat Airport was built by the state government of
Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
in early 1970s. The first airline to operate was Safari Airways (owned by Vijaypat Singhania of Raymonds group) with flights to Bombay and Bhavnagar with small aircraft, most probably a Douglas DC-3 Dakota in the early 1970s, which was eventually discontinued in a year or two. During the 1990s,
Vayudoot Vayudoot ( hi, वायुदूत, Vāyudūt, messenger who rides on the wind) was a regional airline in India established on 20 January 1981 as a joint-venture between the two state-owned carriers, Indian Airlines and Air India. The airline ...
and Gujarat Airways flew to Surat Airport, but discontinued their flights in May 1994 and January 2000, respectively. The airport, with a airstrip and an adjoining apron was then transferred to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in 2003, who began to modernise the airport. After a failed initial attempt in July 2004 to connect Surat with Mumbai and Bhavnagar due to poor airport infrastructure, the now defunct airline Air Deccan operated an ATR 42 aircraft daily from November 2004 to July 2005. 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 Indian Airlines was a division of Air India Limited. It was based in Delhi and focused primarily on domestic routes, along with several international services to neighbouring countries in Asia. It was a division of Air India Limited after m ...
Airbus A319 The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a maximum range of . Final assem ...
flight 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 ...
flagged off by Indian Civil Aviation Minister
Praful Patel Praful Manoharbhai Patel (born 17 February 1957) is an Indian Nationalist Congress Party politician, industrialist and sports administrator. He was the president of India's association football governing body the All India Football Federati ...
at 12:40 IST. However, in October 2007, the runway was reportedly damaged due to poor quality of work during its extension. 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 kilograms up to its rated capacity of 80,000 kg until the runway was repaired. 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 3,810 meters. The extension work of the runway was to have begun in 2009. The November 2014 collision of a buffalo with a
SpiceJet SpiceJet is an Indian budget airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. It is the second largest airline in the country by number of domestic passengers carried, with a market share of 13.6% as of March 2019. The airline operates 630 daily fl ...
Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...
prompted the AAI to address the safety issues at the airport and extend the runway from 2,250 metres to 2,905 metres at a cost of 500 million. The runway extension and repair was taken up in three phases. In the first phase, the runway was extended by 655 metres. 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 2,250 metres long and 45 metres wide, which has already been extended to 2,905 metres in 2017. The airfield is equipped with night landing facilities and an
instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...
(ILS) as well as navigational facilities like
DVOR Very high frequency omnirange station (VOR) is a type of short-range radio navigation system for aircraft, enabling aircraft with a receiving unit to determine its position and stay on course by receiving radio signals transmitted by a network ...
/ DME and an NDB.


Terminal


Integrated terminal

The new Surat Airport terminal building was inaugurated on 27 February 2009 by Union Minister of State for Petroleum
Dinsha Patel Dinsha Jhaverbhai Patel (born 25 May 1937) is an Indian National Congress politician who was a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Kheda constituency of Gujarat and is a member of the Indian National Congress. He was the ...
. The terminal building, constructed at the cost of 400 million, has a total floor area of and can handle 240 passengers per hour. It is equipped with CCTV cameras, two
baggage carousel A baggage carousel is a device, generally at an airport, that delivers checked luggage to the passengers at the baggage reclaim area at their final destination. Not all airports use these devices. Airports without carousels generally deliver bag ...
s 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.


Future expansion

The construction work for the expansion of the terminal building at Surat Airport started in March 2020. The budget for the project is 3.53 billion, and the project is expected to completed by December 2022. The extended terminal building will have a total area of 25,520 sq. m. After the extension, the terminal building will be capable of handling 1,800 passengers (1,200 domestic and 600 international) during peak hours daily. The extended terminal building will be equipped with all essential amenities like 20 check-in counters, 26 immigration counters, 5 aerobridges, baggage conveyors, and parking spaces to accommodate more than 500 cars. The other planned infrastructure development at Surat Airport includes an extension of the apron for an additional 10 bays for code c aircraft and a full-length parallel taxiway. The expansion will turn Surat Airport into an international airport.


Cargo terminal

The cargo terminal of Surat Airport was inaugurated on 29 January 2020. AAI approved a plan for the modular cargo terminal at Surat Airport. After the approval of the tender, work on constructing of new cargo terminal was awarded to a Surat-based company for the 14,000 sq.ft. cargo complex with a ground-level area of 10,800 sq.ft. and first-floor area of 3,200 sq.ft. respectively. Construction of the cargo terminal was completed within the project completion period of 13 months. AAI has future plans to build a cargo terminal at Surat Airport and has reserved land for the same.


Airlines and destinations


Passenger


Cargo


Statistics


See also

*
List of airports in India This list of airports in India includes existing and former commercial & private airports, flying schools, certain defence airstrips, etc. As per AAI data from November 2016, the following are being targeted for the scheduled commercial flight ...
*
List of the busiest airports in India India's busiest airports is the list of top fifty busiest airports of over a hundred commercially operational airports in the country. Data also includes statistics for total aircraft movements and total cargo movements. The tables below contain ...


References

{{Airports in India Airports in Gujarat Transport in Surat Buildings and structures in Surat Airports established in the 1970s 1970s establishments in Gujarat