Kolhapur Airport

Kolhapur airport was set for a major upgrade, making it capable of handling Boeing 737 aircraft. The upgrade involved increasing runway length to 2300 metres and expanding its apron and related equipment. MIDC was to acquire 223 hectares of adjoining land from local farmers in five villages at the cost of Rs 80 crore for this purpose.^[5]

The AAI is considering the installation of night landing facilities at the airport and is preparing a plan to use the airport for overnight parking of aircraft to reduce congestion at the Mumbai and Pune airports.

Kolhapur: The city airport has been facilitated with the aviation fuel facility, which means that the aircraft landing here will have the facility to refuel while on halt.

The facility, according to experts, will help in carrying more passenger load, which eventually will help both the airlines as well as the passengers.

Kamal Kumar Kataria, airport director,

Kolhapur, told TOI that the facility started from May 12, and is being provided by the Hindustan Petroleum, a public-sector oil and natural gas company. The facility will henceforth remain available on a permanent basis. When asked about how it could impact the current aviation scene over the city skies, Kataria said that earlier when the aircraft arriving to the Kolhapur airport had to make sure they carry the reserve fuel to depart to their next destination, the limited availability of the fuel can restrict the number of passengers on board a plane. However, that would not be the case any more. With the availability of aviation fuel, the number of passengers will increase. Notably, from May 12, Indigo airlines started its operations to-and-fro the city to Tirupati, which is receiving an overwhelming response. At present, the Kolhapur airport hosts daily to-and-fro flights for Tirupati, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, carrying over 8,000 passengers since December 9 last year. The Kolhapur airport is located at the Ujalaiwadi neighbourhood, which is around 9km from the main city. While one low-budget domestic airline had started its operations earlier last year, more airlines are likely to join the services in the future. The operations of Kolhapur airport resumed from December 9, 2018, with Air Alliance, a subsidiary of Air India, operating on Hyderabad and Bengaluru routes.

In January 1939, Air Services of India, a private airline based out of Juhu Aerodrome,[5] (which was Mumbai's airport at that time) began air services to the princely state of Kolhapur. The service was officially inaugurated by the Maharaja of Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj, who had shown considerable interest in the project and offered a subsidy to the company, apart from arranging for the necessary aerodrome facilities in his capital. [6]

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.[7] 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.[8][9] The Maharashtra Government then handed over the airport to the AAI in August 2013.[10]

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. MIDC also added facilities like closed circuit television system, baggage scanner, door-frame and hand-held metal detectors and guide lights along the airstrip at a total cost of Rs 6 crore.[11] Kingfisher Airlines resumed commercial flights on 10 June 2011.[12] The service to Mumbai was suspended in November 2011 when the airline pulled out of several towns citing financial losses.[13] After a closure of six years, scheduled commercial operations at the airport resumed in April 2018 with Air Deccan launching its first flight to Mumbai[14] under the UDAN scheme.[15]

In March 2018, the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly passed a resolution recommending the Central government to rename the airport as ‘Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj Airport' after the member of the erstwhile royal family of Kolhapur.[16]

First Airport Director (Kamal Kumar Kataria) appointed on 13 December 2018 by Airports Authority of India. For Kolhapur Airport development.

The foundation stone for a new terminal building and ATC Tower was laid by Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu on 2 February 2019.[17] The new terminal complex is being built at a cost of Rupees 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.[18]

• Airport information for VAKP at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.

[1]

• Kolhapur City Airline Enquiry