Ahmedabad Airport
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner/Operator | Airports Authority of India | ||||||||||
| Serves | |||||||||||
| Location | Ahmedabad, Gujarat  India | ||||||||||
| Hub for | |||||||||||
| Focus city for | |||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 189 ft / 58 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 23°04′38″N 072°38′05″E / 23.07722°N 72.63472°E | ||||||||||
| Website | Official website | ||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2014-15) | |||||||||||
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Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (SVPIA) (IATA: AMD, ICAO: VAAH) is an international airport serving the cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar in Gujarat, India. The airport is located in Hansol, 9 km (5.6 mi) north of central Ahmedabad. It is named after India's first Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. In 2014 it was the eighth busiest airport in India with 4.8 million passenger traffic, an increase of 5.38% over previous year. The airport also serves as hub for the low-cost carrier Spicejet and as a focus city for Air India, Blue Dart Aviation, GoAir and Jet Airways. In 2015 the government started the procedure for the privatization of the Airport along with three other airports in the country.
History
The airport was set up in 1937, while international operations began in 1992. It was categorised as an International airport on 23 May 2000.[3]
In 2010, Terminal 2 was inaugurated for international flights. Along with this, an 18 feet (5.5 m) tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was also inaugurated.[4] Due to higher percentage of domestic flights, it was originally proposed to be used for domestic flights while international flights would continue to operate out of the old terminal.However, it was later announced that the new terminal would be used for international flights.[5]
In 2015, the AAI invited proposals for privatisation of Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Jaipur airports.[6]
On March 11, 2015 Solar Impulse 2 landed at the Ahmedabad Airport at around 23:45 IST after its 15-hour journey from Muscat. It was open for the public and a special hangar was constructed for the aircraft. It left Ahmedabad on March 18, 2015 for Varanasi.[7]
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.[8]
The new terminal has a half kilometre long moving walkway, which connects the two terminals.[9] Airports Authority of India (AAI) will construct a new technical block which will enhance the flight handling capacity and provide better control of flights.[10]
Runway
The airport has a single runway that is 3,599 metres (11,808 ft) long.[11]
Air traffic control tower
As part of the airport modernisation process, the AAI announced that it would construct a new Air traffic control (ATC) building that would include a new Airport tower 65 metres (213 ft) in height.[12]
Terminals
Terminal 1
Terminal 1 has 32 check-in counters and has an area of 45,000 m2 (480,000 sq ft).
Terminal 2
T2 was inaugurated on 4 July 2010 and opened for use 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.[13] 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. The new 51,975 sq m apron area can cater for the parking of 9 A-321 and 4 ATR-72 type of aircraft.
Cargo Terminal
The airport handled 51,637 tonnes of cargo, inclusive of Gold and Silver in 2013-14. 60% of the cargo comes from Domestic sources.[14]
In 2009, 3,685 square metres (39,670 sq ft) of land was leased for a period of seven years out by the AAI to the Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Ltd (GAICL) to set up a Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC). 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 Minister of State for Civil Aviation G. M. Siddeshwara announced that the government had issued a No Objection Certificate for commencement of operations.[15]
In 2014, it was announced that SVPIA, along with 24 other airports in India would be getting a dedicated cargo terminal. The cargo terminal is expected to come up at Terminal 3 which is vacant.[14]
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
| Airlines | Destinations | Terminal |
|---|---|---|
| Air Arabia | Sharjah | 2 |
| Air Costa | Bangalore, Chennai | 1 |
| Air India | Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai | 1 |
| Air India | Kuwait, Muscat, Newark | 2 |
| Emirates | Dubai-International | 2 |
| Etihad Airways | Abu Dhabi | 2 |
| flydubai | Dubai-International | 2 |
| GoAir | Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Kolkata, Mumbai | 1 |
| IndiGo | Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram,[16] Visakhapatnam[16] | 1 |
| Jet Airways | Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Indore, Bhopal | 1 |
| Jet Airways | Abu Dhabi[17] | 2 |
| JetKonnect | Delhi, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Mumbai | 1 |
| Kuwait Airways | Kuwait City (resumes 1 September 2015)[18] | 2 |
| Qatar Airways | Doha | 2 |
| Singapore Airlines | Singapore | 2 |
| SpiceJet | Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Kolkata, Mumbai | 1 |
| SpiceJet | Dubai-International, Muscat | 2 |
| Vistara | Delhi, Mumbai[19] | 1 |
Cargo
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Blue Dart Aviation | Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai |
| Deccan 360 | Bangalore |
| Emirates SkyCargo | Dubai-Al Maktoum |
| Qatar Airways Cargo | Doha[20] |
Connectivity
 |
The Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) runs a bus to the airport.[21] For the convenience of travellers, there is a prepaid taxi booth at the airport premises itself. The city centre is 15 km south-west of the airport. There are also plans to extend the Ahmedabad BRTS bus routes to cover the Airport. A direct metro rail linking the airport with the city centre is also being considered.
Incidents and accidents
- Indian Airlines Flight 113 operating from Mumbai to Ahmedabad crashed on its 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 Ahmedabad, when it struck trees and a high-tension pylon at a distance of 5 km from Runway 23, before crashing into a field and bursting into flames.
- Jet Airways Flight 2510, coming in from Indore, collapsed on the runway while landing at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on 22 July 2010. There were 57 passengers and four crew members on board the ATR flight. Some passengers were feared to have received minor injuries but Jet Airways officials declined the speculations. The nose wheel reportedly collapsed due to a tyre burst.[22]
See also
Proposed new airport
References
- ^ "TRAFFIC STATISTICS - DOMESTIC & INTERNATIONAL PASSENGERS" (jsp). Aai.aero. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
- ^ "TRAFFIC STATISTICS - DOMESTIC & INTERNATIONAL PASSENGERS". Aai.aero. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
- ^ "Airports International - New Terminal in Ahmedabad" (PDF). Airports Authority of India. September. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-07-22. Retrieved Mar 24, 2015.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=and|year=/|date=mismatch (help) - ^ "Praful Patel inaugurates Sardar Patel's statue at Ahmedabad airport". Daily News and Analysis. Ahmedabad. 10 January 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^ "New building to be used as international terminal: AAI". Times of India. Ahmedabad. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^ Mukherjee, Sharmishtha (12 February 2015). "Eight firms line up to bid for airport privatisation projects". Indian Express. New Delhi. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^ "Solar Impulse 2 lands at Ahmedabad". Business Today.
- ^ "Fly out of Changi, in apnu Amdavad". The Times of India. 28 June 2009.
- ^ "New terminal soon at A'bad international airport". expressindia.com. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
- ^ "Rs 90 crore for new air traffic control block at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport". DNA Ahmedabad Edition.
- ^ Jain, Ankur (20 March 2011). "Runway repair at Ahmedabad airport to hit summer travel". Times of India. Ahmedabad. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^ Jha, Satish (17 January 2011). "Air traffic control at Ahmedabad airport to be automated". DNA (newspaper). Ahmedabad. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^ Jha, Satish (1 February 2011). "New Ahmedabad airport terminal wins award". Daily News and Analysis. Ahmedabad. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^ a b Mishra, Piyush (16 July 2014). "Ahmedabad airport to get dedicated cargo terminal". Times of India. Ahmedabad. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^ Mishra, Piyush (15 July 2014). "Ahmedabad airport's perishable cargo centre to begin services soon". Times of India. Ahmedabad. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^ a b "Indigo, SpiceJet, AirAsia to introduce new flights from Visakhapatnam".
- ^ 'More international, domestic flights to fly from Ahmedabad' http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ Piyush Mishra, TNN | Sep 19, 2014, 03.45PM IST
- ^ "Kuwait Airways Resumes Ahmedabad Service from Sep 2015". Airline Route. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
- ^ Chowdhury, Anirban (1 January 2015). "Vistara to operate out of Mumbai International Airport's new T2 terminal". The Economic Times. Mumbai. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^ "Qatar Airways Cargo to launch freighter service to Ahmedabad on Feb 3". Gulf Times. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^ Bhatt, Megha (18 May 2014). "Frequent Flyers Seek Transportation at A'bad Airport: BRTS Can Be a Good Option, Say Some Passengers". Daily News and Analysis. Ahmedabad. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- ^ "Plane's nose wheel collapses, passengers safe". IBNLive.com. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
External links
