Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
No issues specified. Please specify issues, or remove this template. |
Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport Amritsar International Airport | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Airports Authority of India | ||||||||||
| Serves | Punjab, India | ||||||||||
| Location | Amritsar, India | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 756 ft / 230 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 31°42′28″N 74°47′57″E / 31.70778°N 74.79917°E | ||||||||||
| Website | Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport. | ||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Statistics (Apr '10 - Mar '11) | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport (Punjabi: ਸ਼੍ਰੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਰਾਮਦਾਸ ਜੀ ਅੰਤਰ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ ਹਵਾਈ ਅੱਡਾ, (IATA: ATQ, ICAO: VIAR) is an international airport about 11 km northwest of Amritsar, India. It is located on the Amritsar-Ajnala Road, near the village of Raja Sansi. Named after Sri Guru Ram Das Ji, the fourth Sikh Guru and the founder of Amritsar city, the airport serves Amritsar, as well as the state of Punjab.
The airport currently handles about 100 commercial flights a week, both international and domestic and is fast growing.
Expansion and renovation
International airport has increased in recent years. A newly finished arrivals terminal was inaugurated in September 2005, and a finished departures terminal has been operational since March 2006. Amritsar Airport registered a passenger growth of 64.6% during April–December 2009 which made Amritsar Airport number one in country for fastest growth.[4] This new terminal is a blend of modern and Indian designs, constructed of glass and steel, but with Indian arches and colours.
A new integrated terminal building was inaugurated on 25 February 2009, with an area of approximately 40,175 square metres compared to 12,770 previously. The new terminal building is a glass and steel structure equipped with having a central air conditioning system, an inline X-ray baggage inspection system integrated with the baggage conveyor system, escalators, public address system, Flight Information Display System (FIDS), CCTV for surveillance, check-in counters with Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE), car parking, etc.
The integrated terminal building at Amritsar have peak hour passenger handling capacity of 1200 passengers and annual handling capacity of 14.6 hundred thousand passengers. The integrated building has 30 check-in counters, four X-ray scanners (for baggage), 26 immigration Counters, ten custom counters, 12 security check booths, and four conveyor belt – arrival. The apron has been extended to cater for parking of total of 14 aircraft (8 Category ‘E’, 3 Category ‘D’ and 3 Category ‘C’ type of aircraft) from the earlier capacity of ten aircraft and strengthened for parking of Category ‘E’ type of aircraft. The departure and arrival hall have facility for duty free shops. The departure hall also accommodates foreign currency exchange, book store, restaurant and other shops for the convenience of departing passengers.:.[5] Airport will also have:
- A brand new cargo handling facility due to demands from exporters in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, who have no alternative apart from Delhi which is far too far away
- The proposed site for the Permanent Perishable Cargo Centre is located close to the air cargo complex, which has a capacity of 200 tonnes per day
- Passenger terminal building size now doubled to 41,000 m².
- Four new aerobridges to be installed out of which two are operational.
- Parking bays now increased from 5 to 14 by 2009.
- The runway extended by 369 meters to a total length of 3,658 meters.
- A new car park for passengers and visitors
The Airport Authority of India has shortlisted five bidders from the initial list of 23 bidders for the modernization of the Amritsar airport. These include:
- Reliance Energy
- Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide
- TADL-Changi Airports-Tata Power
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - Genting (Singapore) Pte Ltd
- L&T-IDPL-Unique Consortium
The development and modernization plans are only for the city-side of these non-metro airports and are expected to be completed by 2010, through public-private partnership (PPP). AAI will take care of the airside development of the airports.
The government wants the consortium of the selected bidder and the AAI to commercially operate the airports and maintain their terminal buildings. It would also be responsible to develop and operate cargo facilities at these airports, besides undertaking the city-side development.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already placed orders for equipments required for ILS-II, which will be imported from Germany-based flight safety equipment firm Thalef. The equipment is expected to arrive within two months following which the commissioning process will take place.[6]
The airport modernization process is part of the upgrade process of 35 non-metro airports in the country by 2010.
Airlines and destinations
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Air India | Delhi, Dammam, Sharjah, Toronto-Pearson |
| Air India Express | Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Muscat |
| bmi | London-Heathrow |
| Jet Airways | Delhi |
| JetLite | Delhi |
| Kingfisher Airlines | Delhi |
| Qatar Airways | Doha |
| Turkmenistan Airlines | Ashgabat |
| Uzbekistan Airways | Tashkent |
Ground transport
The airport is well connected to the roads and main highways of Punjab. While private transport in the form of automobiles is the most popular way of reaching the airport, public transport infrastructure (with the exception of taxis) has remained weak. However this is set to change with the Punjab State Government's unveiling of plans to launch regular bus services between the airport and other cities of Punjab. Air India has also unveiled plans to provide a regular bus service for its ATQ passengers to and from Jalandhar. The state government has also unveiled plans to build a monorail line to connect the airport with the Sri Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) and the Railway Station in Amritsar.
References
- ^ http://www.aai.aero/traffic_news/mar2k11annex3.pdf
- ^ http://www.aai.aero/traffic_news/mar2k11annex2.pdf
- ^ http://www.aai.aero/traffic_news/mar2k11annex4.pdf
- ^ Traffic, flyers' flow grow at Patna airport - The Times of India
- ^ Press Release By PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=47938
- ^ Rajasansi airport to update landing system[dead link]
External links
{{{inline}}}
- Amritsar International Airport
- Amritsar Travel
- Template:WAD
- Accident history for ATQ at Aviation Safety Network