Surat International Airport

Surat International Airport[4] (IATA: STV, ICAO: VASU) is an international airport serving Surat and Southern Gujarat. It is located in Magdalla, situated 12 km (6.4 mi) from the city centre. It has a total area of 770 acres (312 ha), and is the second busiest airport in Gujarat after Ahmedabad, in terms of both aircraft movements and passenger traffic. It was awarded the status of a customs airport on 9 June 2018. It is also home to a flying training school.[5][6]

Departures area of the airport

Surat International Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner/OperatorAirports Authority of India
ServesSurat
LocationMagdalla, Surat, Gujarat, India
Elevation AMSL16 ft / 5 m
Coordinates21°7′3.57″N 072°44′42.93″E
WebsiteSurat Airport
Maps
STV is located in Gujarat
STV
STV
Location of airport in Gujarat
STV is located in India
STV
STV
STV (India)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
04/22 9,530 2,905 Asphalt
Statistics (April 2022 – March 2023)
Passengers1,239,913 (Increase 32.8%)
Aircraft movements14,462 (Increase 38.7%)
Cargo tonnage4,985 (Decrease 1.8%)
Source: AAI[1][2][3]

History

Surat Airport was built by the state government of Gujarat in early 1970s. The first airline to operate was Safari Airways (owned by Vijaypat Singhania of Raymonds group) with flights to Bombay and Bhavnagar with small aircraft, most probably a Douglas DC-3 Dakota in the early 1970s, which was eventually discontinued in a year or two. During the 1990s, Vayudoot and Gujarat Airways flew to Surat Airport, but discontinued their flights in May 1994 and January 2000, respectively. The airport, with a 1,400-metre (4,600 ft) airstrip and an adjoining 60 by 40 metres (200 ft × 130 ft) apron was then transferred to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in 2003, who began to modernise the airport.[7] After a failed initial attempt in July 2004 to connect Surat with Mumbai and Bhavnagar due to poor airport infrastructure,[8] the now defunct airline Air Deccan operated an ATR 42 aircraft daily from November 2004 to July 2005.[9]

In 2007, the airport's 1,400-metre long runway was extended to 2,250 metres, to enable landing of larger aircraft. Subsequently, commercial services resumed on 6 May 2007 with an Indian Airlines Airbus A319 flight to Delhi flagged off by Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel at 12:40 IST.[10] However, in October 2007, the runway was reportedly damaged due to poor quality of work during its extension.[11] As a result, a limitation was imposed on the runway to not allow more than two operations of aircraft having weight of over 75,000 kilograms up to its rated capacity of 80,000 kg until the runway was repaired.[12] In 2009, the AAI announced that the airport required 864 hectares of land, and the Gujarat government had allocated such land for the development. Planned improvements at the airport included a capacity to handle up to seven jets at a time and extending the runway to 3,810 meters. The extension work of the runway was to have begun in 2009.[13] The November 2014 collision of a buffalo with a SpiceJet Boeing 737 prompted the AAI to address the safety issues at the airport and extend the runway from 2,250 metres to 2,905 metres at a cost of ₹500 million.[12] The runway extension and repair was taken up in three phases. In the first phase, the runway was extended by 655 metres.[14]

The adjoining concrete apron measures 235 by 90 metres, and is linked by two taxiways to its sole runway that is oriented 04/22, was 2,250 metres long and 45 metres wide, but was extended to 2,905 metres in 2017. The airfield is equipped with night landing facilities and an instrument landing system (ILS) as well as navigational facilities like DVOR/DME and an NDB.[15]

Terminal
Surat Airport arrival area

Integrated terminal

The new Surat Airport terminal building was inaugurated on 27 February 2009 by Union Minister of State for Petroleum Dinsha Patel.[13] The terminal building, constructed at the cost of ₹400 million, has a total floor area of 8,500 m2 (91,000 sq ft) and can handle 240 passengers per hour. It is equipped with CCTV cameras, two baggage carousels in the arrivals hall, and one hand baggage X-ray machine, among other modern facilities like two air bridges with Visual Docking Guidance System, two elevators and two escalators, and a 120-seat lounge. Coffee Culture and other shops have been added.

Future expansion

The construction work for the expansion of the terminal building at Surat Airport started in March 2020. The budget for the project is ₹3.53 billion, and the project is expected to completed by October 2023. The extended terminal building will have a total area of 25,520 sq. m. After the extension, the terminal building will be capable of handling 1,800 passengers (1,200 domestic and 600 international) during peak hours daily. The extended terminal building will be equipped with 20 check-in counters, 26 immigration counters, 5 aerobridges, baggage conveyors, and parking spaces to accommodate more than 500 cars. The other planned infrastructure development at Surat Airport includes an extension of the apron for an additional 10 bays for code c aircraft and a full-length parallel taxiway.[16] The expansion will turn Surat Airport into an international airport.[17]

Cargo terminal

The cargo terminal of Surat Airport was inaugurated on 29 January 2020.[18] AAI approved a plan for the modular cargo terminal at Surat Airport. After the approval of the tender, work on constructing of new cargo terminal was awarded to a Surat-based company for the 14,000 sq.ft. cargo complex with a ground-level area of 10,800 sq.ft. and first-floor area of 3,200 sq.ft. respectively. Construction of the cargo terminal was completed within the project completion period of 13 months. AAI has future plans to build a cargo terminal at Surat Airport and has reserved land for the same.[19]

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
Air India Express Sharjah, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata[20]
IndiGo Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Diu (begins 29 October 2023),[21] Goa–Dabolim, Hyderabad, Indore,[22] Jaipur, Kolkata, Udaipur[22]
SpiceJet Goa–Mopa, Jaipur (resumes 29 October 2023), Pune[23]
Star Air Belgaum, Kishangarh

Statistics
Annual passenger traffic at STV airport. See Wikidata query.

See also

References
  1. "Annexure III – Passenger Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  2. "Annexure II – Aircraft Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  3. "Annexure IV – Freight Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  4. "Surat airport: Welcome to Surat international airport! | Surat News - Times of India". The Times of India. 11 July 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  5. "City gets flying academy, youth's aspirations new wings". The Times of India. 21 October 2009. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  6. "Air Traffic News - 2017" (PDF). airportsindia.org.in. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  7. "Airports Authority of India Starts Work on Surat Airport". Business Standard. 16 February 2004. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  8. "Air Deccan's maiden Surat flight washed out". rediff.com. 19 July 2004. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  9. "Air Deccan suspends Surat operations". Business Standard. 18 July 2005. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  10. "Magdalla airport upgraded for connectivity". The Times of India. 26 February 2009. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  11. "Runway damage scars still hover over Surat airport". The Times of India. 23 February 2012. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  12. "Runway extension work speeded up at airport". The Times of India. 15 November 2014. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  13. "Surat airport: AAI asks govt for 864 ha". DNA. 28 February 2009. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  14. "Work to extend Surat airport runway to begin in July". The Times of India. 20 June 2015. Archived from the original on 2 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  15. AAI website, 18 August 2010, archived from the original on 28 January 2012, retrieved 31 October 2011
  16. "AAI issues work order for Surat airport terminal extension". The Times of India. 30 May 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  17. "Surat airport to be converted into an international one: Jayant Sinha". Mint. 26 March 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  18. "Domestic cargo terminal at Surat airport to be inaugurated on January 29". The Times of India. 19 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  19. "News for Airlines, Airports and the Aviation Industry | CAPA". centreforaviation.com. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  20. "AirAsia India Returns to Surat". TravelBizMonitor.com. 13 January 2023. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  21. "IndiGo's newest connection: Diu linked directly to Ahmedabad & Surat". United News of India. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  22. "INDIGO 2H23 DOMESTIC NETWORK ADDITIONS". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  23. "SpiceJet Flight Schedule". SpiceJet. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
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