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Shirdi Airport

Coordinates: 19°41′19″N 074°22′44″E / 19.68861°N 74.37889°E / 19.68861; 74.37889
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Shirdi Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerMaharashtra Airport Development Company
OperatorAirports Authority of India
ServesShirdi
LocationKakadi, Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India
Opened1 October 2017; 7 years ago (2017-10-01)[1]
Elevation AMSL1,909 ft / 582 m
Coordinates19°41′19″N 074°22′44″E / 19.68861°N 74.37889°E / 19.68861; 74.37889
Map
SAG is located in Maharashtra
SAG
SAG
SAG is located in India
SAG
SAG
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
09/27 8,200 2,500 Asphalt
Statistics (April 2023 – March 2024)
Passengers724,980 (Decrease 1.1%)
Aircraft movements6,017 (Increase 6.8%)
Cargo tonnage243 (Decrease 62.1%)
Source: AAI[2][3][4]

Shirdi Airport (IATA: SAG, ICAO: VASD) is an international airport[5] serving the city of Shirdi, Maharashtra, India. It is located at Kakadi, about 14 km (8.7 mi) southwest of the city and 22 km (14 mi) from Sangamner. It is the fourth-busiest airport in the state after Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur airports.[6] 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.[7] Communication Navigation Surveillance (CNS) and Air Traffic Control (ATC) at the airport is operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).[8]

History

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The Ahmednagar district administration officially acquired land for the greenfield airport project on 22 December 2009.[9] 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 80,000 devotees who visit the temple town daily used to access Shirdi via road, Sainagar Shirdi Railway Station, Kopargaon Railway Station and the Aurangabad and Pune airports 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.[10] 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.[11] Runway length now stands at 2,500 metres.[12] 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.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15]

Airlines and destinations

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AirlinesDestinations
IndiGo Bangalore,[16] Chennai, Coimbatore,[17] Hyderabad, Indore,[18] Vijayawada[19]
SpiceJet[20] Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad


Statistics

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Annual passenger traffic at SAG airport. See Wikidata query.

Infrastructure

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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.[21] In July 2019, the state government gave approvals for the extension of the runway from 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) to 3,200 metres (10,500 ft), 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 system was installed at the airport in September 2019 to enable aircraft to land at the airport in low visibility.[22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Shirdi gets international airport". Deccan Herald. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  2. ^ "Annexure III – Passenger Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  3. ^ "Annexure II – Aircraft Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  4. ^ "Annexure IV – Freight Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  5. ^ "Shirdi gets international airport". Deccan Herald. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  6. ^ "Shirdi airport's prospects soar as Maharashtra govt okays development plans". Daily News & Analysis. 11 July 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  7. ^ "Shirdi gets international airport". Deccan Herald. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  8. ^ "Flights to Shirdi airport likely by October". The Indian Express. 19 August 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Shirdi airport work in full swing: Official". The Times of India. 2 July 2010. Archived from the original on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
  10. ^ "Shirdi airport to become operational by Dec 2011". The Times of India. 11 December 2010. Archived from the original on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Shirdi airport delayed due to runway modification". Daily News & Analysis. 4 August 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
  12. ^ a b "Shirdi airport not to meet Nov deadline". Indian Express. 17 October 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  13. ^ "Shirdi Airport to be completed in 3 years: Sahay". NewKerela.com. 15 January 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2012.
  14. ^ "Maha govt seeks aerodrome licence for Shirdi airport". Business Standard. 7 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  15. ^ "First test flight from Mumbai lands at Shirdi airport in 45 minutes". Hindustan Times. 27 September 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  16. ^ "Indigo to operate 22 new domestic flights from 28 March". www.livemint.com. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Indigo connects Shirdi to Coimbatore via Chennai as a direct flight".
  18. ^ "IndiGo to commence Indore-Shirdi service in Mar-2023". CAPA. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  19. ^ "INDIGO 1H23 DOMESTIC ROUTES ADDITION SUMMARY – 05MAR23". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  20. ^ "SpiceJet Flight Schedule". SpiceJet. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  21. ^ "Shirdi, India to open to commercial traffic in early 4Q17". ch-aviation. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  22. ^ "Shirdi airport takes step forward to bag 24x7 tag". The Times of India. 9 September 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
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