Shirdi Airport (IATA: SAG, ICAO: VASD) is located at Kakadi village, about 14 km South-west of the town of Shirdi in Maharashtra, India. The airport, spread over 400 hectares, is owned by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) and was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind on 1 October 2017. Communication Navigation Surveillance (CNS) and Air Traffic Control (ATC) at the airport will be managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The Rs. 340 crore airport project is 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 80,000 devotees visit the temple town daily and the numbers go up to 5 lakh per day during weekends, vacations and festivals. These pilgrims access Shirdi via road, Sainagar Shirdi Railway Station and the Aurangabad Airport located 125 km from Shirdi.
Video Shirdi Airport
History
The Ahmednagar district administration officially acquired land for the airport project on 22 December 2009. 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 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 and Boeing 737. An Alliance Air ATR-72 operated a test run from Mumbai airport, landing at Shirdi on 26 September 2017.
From 1 October 2017 daily flights to Shirdi have been started.
The airport is supposedly getting a new automated baggage handling system by the airport operator Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), according to media reports.
Maps Shirdi Airport
Airlines and Destinations
Passengers
Infrastructure
The airport is equipped with a runway 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) in length. The terminal covers 2,750 square metres (29,600 sq ft) and has a capacity for 500 passengers daily. Currently Shirdi Airport is going through the Runway Extension from 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) in length to 3,200 metres (10,500 ft) in length to facilitate International Flights landing. Entire Project is executed by Vasishta Projects-based out of Hyderabad under the MADC (Maharashtra Airport Developmet Corporation) management's guidance.
References
External links
- MADC Shirdi Website
- Shirdi airport to be ready in a year
- Shirdi airport work in full swing: Official
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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