Kolhapur Airport
Kolhapur Airport (IATA: KLH, ICAO: VAKP) is an airport in Kolhapur,
Maharashtra, India. It is situated at Ujlaiwadi, 9 km South-East from
Kolhapur city.
The present Kolhapur Airport began operations in the year 1987 and was
leased by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) from
Airports Authority of India (AAI) on 16
April 1997. The lease expired in February 2012 and the MIDC requested the
State government in May 2012 to be relieved of the responsibility of
managing the airport. The Maharashtra Government then handed over the
airport to the AAI in August 2013.
The airport was closed for repairs by order of the DGCA on June 16, 2010
after the runway surface was found to be unsafe in the monsoons. Due to the
closure, flights into Kolhapur were temporarily suspended. DGCA gave its
approval for re-opening of the airport in April 2011 after MIDC repaired the
1,370 metre long and 50 metre wide runway. The airport is 07/25 oriented and
1,996 ft / 608 m elevation AMSL.
MIDC also added facilities like closed circuit television system, baggage
scanner, door-frame and hand-held metal detectors and guide lights along the
airstrip.
The foundation stone for a new terminal building and an ATC tower was laid
by Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu on 2 February 2019. The new
terminal complex is being built at a cost of ₹ 275 Crore and will cover an
area of 3900 square metres. It will have 10 check-in counters, and a peak
hour handling capacity of 300 passengers.
Airlines and Destinations
Kingfisher Airlines resumed commercial flights on 10 June 2011. The service
to Mumbai was suspended in November 2011 when the airline pulled out of
several towns citing financial losses.
Currently, IndiGo and Star Air operate scheduled flight services to and from this
Airport to various cities in
India as stated below:
| Airlines | Destinations |
| IndiGo | Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Tirupati |
| Star Air | Mumbai |
folder_open Airports in Maharashtra