Ahmedabad Airport, officially Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport , is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, 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 List of states and union territories ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is named after

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ''Vallabhbhāī Jhāverbhāī Paṭel''; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was an Indian independence activist and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime ...

, the first Deputy Prime Minister of India. The airport is the busiest and largest airport in the state of Gujarat, and is the seventh busiest airport in India. In fiscal year 2024–25, it handled over 13 million passengers, making it the seventh-busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic in India. The airport serves as a focus city for

Air India Air India is the flag carrier of India with its main hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, and secondary hubs at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, alo ...

and an operating base for

IndiGo InterGlobe Aviation Limited (d/b/a IndiGo), is an India, Indian airline headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. It is the largest List of airlines of India, airline in India by passengers carried and fleet size, with a 64.1% domestic market ...

. In 2015, the government started the procedure for the privatisation of the airport. The new Dholera International Airport is being developed due to expansion constraints at the current airport.

History

The airport was set up in 1937, while international operations began on 26 January 1991. It was categorised as an

International airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

on 23 May 2000. In March 2004,

commenced service to London's Heathrow Airport on a Boeing 747. The flight catered to the large Gujarati community in the United Kingdom. The carrier ended the service in October 2008. The following June, Air India began a route to Frankfurt using 747s. The link lasted until November 2010. The new Terminal 2 was inaugurated for handling international passengers in 2010. A statue of

was also inaugurated at the airport. In August 2016, Air India reinstated direct service to London-Heathrow aboard a

Boeing 787 The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, wh ...

. Of the four weekly flights, three continued on to Newark. In March 2017 a 700 kWp rooftop solar plant was commissioned at the airport. Air India stopped operating the London–Newark service in November 2018. In November 2018, the Central Government cleared a proposal by the

Airports Authority of India The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (India), Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civi ...

(AAI) for leasing out six of its airports, including Ahmedabad. The following month, AAI commenced an international competitive bidding process to award Operations, Management and Development (OMD) contracts for the six airports. Seven companies participated in the bidding process for Ahmedabad airport. These included Adani Enterprises Limited, Sydney, Australia-based AMP Capital Investors (UK) Limited,

Autostrade The ''autostrade'' (; : ''autostrada'', ) are roads forming the Italy, Italian national system of motorways. The total length of the system is about , as of 30 July 2022. There are also 13 motorway spur routes, which extend for . Most of the ...

, GMR Airports Limited, I Investments Ltd, PNC Infrastructure Ltd and Sanna Enterprises. The bidding process that was won by the Adani Group. Subsequent to the selection of Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) as the “Selected Bidder”, AEL promoted and incorporated the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) – Ahmedabad International Airport Limited (AIAL), as the concessionaire under the Companies Act, 2013 in accordance with the terms of the RFP. AIAL signed the Concession Agreement with AAI for exclusive right to operate, manage and develop Ahmedabad Airport on 14 February 2020.

Structure

The airport currently consists of four terminals: domestic, international, an additional terminal for secondary traffic and a cargo terminal as well. The airport has 45 parking bays and both the international and domestic terminals have four aero-bridges each. The new terminal has been modelled based on

Singapore Changi Airport Singapore Changi Airport ( ; ) is the primary international airport that serves the country of Singapore, and is one of the largest transportation hubs in Asia. More than 100 airlines operate from the airport, with flights to destinations in A ...

. The new terminal has a half-kilometre-long

moving walkway A moving walkway – also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, travolator, or travelator – is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane, over a short to medium distance. T ...

, which connects the two terminals. Airports Authority of India (AAI) will construct a new technical block which will enhance the flight handling capacity and provide better control of flights.

Runway

The airport has a single runway that is long.

Air traffic control tower

As part of the airport modernisation process, the AAI announced that it would construct a new

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

(ATC) building that would include a new airport tower in height.

Terminals

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 is used for domestic flights and has 32 check-in counters and has an area of . In December 2018, a new Plaza Premium lounge was opened at Terminal 1 (near Gate 4 on first floor), which caters for Priority Pass and other select bank cards as well as some business class passengers based on airline flown.

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 was inaugurated on 5 July 2010 and opened for international flights on 15 September 2010. The terminal won the award for the best Steel Structure at the 2009 edition of the National Structural Steel Design and Construction Awards. The terminal has four aerobridges and 32 check-in counters. With the total floor area of approximately 41,000 sq. meters, this terminal will be able to accommodate around 1,600 passengers at any given time. In November 2018, a ne
Plaza Premium
lounge was opened at the international departures area of Terminal 2, which caters for

business class Business class is a travel class available on many commercial airlines and rail lines, known by brand names that vary by airline or rail company. In the airline industry, it was originally intended as an intermediate level of service between e ...

and first class passengers as well as passengers holdin
Priority Pass
and other bank cards. The new apron area can cater for the parking of nine A-321 and four ATR-72 type of aircraft.

Cargo Terminal

The airport handled 51,637 tonnes of cargo, inclusive of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

in 2013–14. Sixty per cent of the cargo comes from domestic sources. In 2009, of land was leased for a period of seven years out by the AAI to Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation to set up a center for perishable cargo. However, due to a government policy that prevented third-party operations at airports run by the AAI, the CPC was not in use until July 2014, when the minister of state for civil aviation announced that the government had issued a No Objection Certificate for commencement of operations. In 2014, it was announced that the airport would be getting a dedicated cargo terminal which is expected to come up at Terminal 3.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Future

Due to growing demands and rise in passenger traffic, the airport will get a third passenger terminal just beside Terminal 1, by shifting the present cargo terminal to beside Terminal 2, which will increase the airport's capacity. After that, the airport could not be further expanded due to limited space for the future. To solve this problem, a new airport at Dholera, which is being developed into a new smart city, located south-west from the present airport, is under construction, which will be the biggest airport in Gujarat with two parallel runways. Being developed in three phases, the first phase of the airport will be completed by December 2025.

Awards

The airport was awarded as the ''Most Improved Airport in the Asia-Pacific Region'' by the

Airports Council International Airports Council International (ACI) is an organization of Airport authority, airport authorities, informing members of industry practices and airport standards. Established in 1991, its headquarters (ACI World) are based in Montreal, Quebec, Ca ...

in 2017. In 2019, it received three awards for the ''Best Airport for Customer Service'', ''Best Airport for Environment and Ambience'' and ''Best Airport for Infrastructure and Facilitation'' from the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Survey for 2019 conducted by Airports Council International.

Accidents and incidents

* Indian Airlines Flight 113, operating from

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

to Ahmedabad, crashed on final approach to the airport on 19 October 1988, killing 130 people, including all 6 crew members. The flight was cleared for a visual approach into a foggy airport, when it struck trees and a high-tension pylon 5 km from Runway 23, thus crashing into a field and bursting into flames. * Jet Airways Flight 2510, operating from

Indore Indore (; ISO 15919, ISO: , ) is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The commercial capital of the state, it has been declared as the List of cleanest cities in India, cleanest city of In ...

to Ahmedabad, collapsed on the runway while landing at the airport on 22 July 2010. There were 57 passengers and 4 crew members on board the ATR flight. The nose wheel reportedly collapsed due to a tyre burst, causing some passengers to receive minor injuries. *On 12 June 2025, Air India Flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating from Ahmedabad to

London Gatwick Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwick was the second-bu ...

, crashed shortly after takeoff in the suburb of Meghaninagar. Of the 242 passengers and crew on board, 241 were killed and one passenger survived the crash, while at least 38 people were killed on the ground.

References

External links

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad
– official website {{Ahmedabad topics Airports in Gujarat International airports in India Transport in Ahmedabad 1937 establishments in India Airports established in 1937 20th-century architecture in India Adani Group