About Rajkot Airport
Rajkot Airport (IATA: RAJ, ICAO: VARK) is a public airport located in the
middle of Rajkot, Gujarat, India. Daily flights are operated by Jet Airways,
Air India and Ventura air connect. Rajkot Airport has parking apron for one
Boeing 737 and one ATR 72, with the terminal having capacity for 125 people.
Rajkot Airport is the busiest airport in Saurastra region and third busiest
in Gujarat behind Sardar Patel International Airport and Vadodara Airport.
Rajkot Urban Development Authority and Rajkot Municipal Corporation have
proposed a plan to extend Rajkot airport runway from current 5,400 feet
(1,600 m) to 6,000 feet (1,800 m) to accommodate larger aircraft and to
provide connectivity to major cities than Mumbai to cater to a large demand
from the manufacturing companies located in Rajkot. This was not possible
because even after the involvement of the Airports Authority of India (AAI)
and Civil Aviation Ministry, the former could not negotiate land acquisition
prices with Western Rail.
However, the Airport now suffers from considerable capacity restraints, due
to the expansion of the city and because of the residential and commercial
buildings which have been built around it - this renders the plan to extend
the runway unfeasible. The present strip is incapable of serving aircraft
larger than Airbus 320 family/Boeing 737-800 which is the largest aircraft
operating from the airport.
As such, plans for an entirely new airport have been submitted, and civil
aviation minister Praful Patel has suggested that a new bigger airport be
developed on 500 acres (2.0 km2) of land near the Rajkot-Gondal-Jamnagar
highway, around 10 km away from the city and nearer Khirasara village. The
proposal has been accepted.
The Airport is only 2 km away from the Rajkot city center and 2.7 km from
the Rajkot Railway station.
The authorities have finalised the site for the first ever international
airport in Saurashtra, which will be located near Rajkot. The new airport is
under construction since late 2014. The constructions are estimated to
complete till 2016 Airlines like Vistara, IndiGo and Air Asia have expressed
interest in opening routes to new cities like Ahmedabad, Delhi, Chennai and
few other cities from the new airport.
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