Shirdi 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 ...

serving the town of

Shirdi Shirdi (; also known as Sainagar) is a town and pilgrimage site in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Shirdi is located in the Rahata taluka of Ahmednagar District. It is most well known for being the home of the 19th-century Indian saint Sai B ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

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 located at Kakadi, about southwest of the town and from

Sangamner Sangamner is a city and a municipal council located in the Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra state in India. It derives its name from the site of the ''sangam'' (confluence) of three rivers in the area: the Pravara, Mhalungi, and Adhala. Sa ...

. It is the fourth-busiest airport in the state after

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 ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

, and

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

airports. The airport, spread over 400 hectares, is owned by the

Maharashtra Airport Development Company Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited abbreviated as (MADC), is a Special Purpose Company constituted in 2002 by the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) to plan, construct, operate and maintain airports in the State. The government has en ...

(MADC) and was inaugurated by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind ( ; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the president of India from 2017 to 2022. He is the first person from Uttar Pradesh to serve as the president. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...

on 1 October 2017. Communication Navigation Surveillance (CNS) and

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) at the airport is operated 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).

History

The

Ahmednagar district Ahmednagar district (Marathi pronunciation: �ɦ(ə)məd̪nəɡəɾ, officially Ahilyanagar district, is the largest district of Maharashtra state in western India. The historical city of Ahmednagar is the headquarters of the district. Ahmednagar ...

administration officially acquired land for the

greenfield airport A greenfield airport is an aviation facility with greenfield project characteristics. The designation reflects certain environmental qualities (using previously undeveloped or empty greenfield land, for example) and commissioning, planning and cons ...

project on 22 December 2009. The Rs. 340 crore airport project was part of the State Government's effort to promote religious tourism at Shirdi, known for the temple of Sai Baba, among the most revered spiritual gurus in India. Around 60,000 devotees who visit the temple town daily used to access Shirdi via road, Sainagar Shirdi Railway Station,

Manmad Junction railway station Manmad Junction Railway Station (station code: MMR) is a Central Railway junction in India, serving the town of Manmad in the Nashik district of Maharashtra. It is one of the Central Railways' major stations, connecting Manmad with many major ...

and the

Aurangabad Aurangabad (), officially renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in 2023, is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a ...

and

Pune airport Pune Airport is an international airport and an Indian Air Force base serving the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India. It is located at Lohagaon, approximately northeast of the historic centre of Pune. The airport is a civil enclave operated ...

s located 125 km and 186 km respectively from Shirdi. The single runway was initially intended to be 60 metres wide and 2,000 metres long and the airport was expected to start operations in December 2011. However, the MADC decided to extend the length of the runway to 3,200 metres to enable operations of larger aircraft and consequently the project missed its deadline. Runway length now stands at 2,500 metres. Plans for a terminal building costing around Rs. 40 crore were abandoned due to shortage of funds and a smaller terminal costing 3-4 crores was built instead. The work was expected to be completed before the forthcoming centenary celebrations of Sai Baba's

Samadhi Statue of a meditating Rishikesh.html" ;"title="Shiva, Rishikesh">Shiva, Rishikesh ''Samādhi'' (Pali and ), in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, is a state of meditative consciousness. In many Indian religious traditions, the cultivati ...

that will draw thousands of devotees to the pilgrim town from various parts of the country as well as abroad. MADC completed the construction work by February 2016 and applied to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for an aerodrome licence to commence operation of non-scheduled flights. The DGCA issued the licence on 21 September 2017 and stated that the runway of 2,500 meters is capable of handling Code 3C type aircraft such as the

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

and

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, 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 t ...

. An Alliance Air ATR-72 operated a test run from Mumbai Airport, landing at Shirdi on 26 September 2017.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Infrastructure

The airport is equipped with a runway in length. The terminal covers and has a capacity for 500 passengers daily. In July 2019, the state government gave approvals for the extension of the runway from to , construction of a new terminal building to increase hourly passenger capacity from 300 per hour to 1000 per hour and operationalisation of night-landing facilities at the airport. A

DVOR Dvor may refer to: Places in Bosnia and Herzegovina: * Dvor, Visoko, a settlement in the Municipality of Visoko Places in Croatia: * Dvor, Croatia, a town and a municipality in Croatia Places in Slovenia: * Dvor, Ljubljana, a settlement in the ...

system was installed at the airport in September 2019 to enable aircraft to land at the airport in low visibility.

References

External links