Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport

Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport (IATA: ATQ, ICAO: VIAR) is an international airport about 11 kilometres (7 mi) northwest of the city of Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is named after Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru and the founder of Amritsar city. Amritsar Airport is the largest and busiest airport in the Indian state of Punjab. It is the second largest airport in Northern India after Delhi Airport.[2] The airport was the fastest-growing airport in India during the fiscal year 2017–18.[3] It is a hub of cargo movements, domestically and internationally.[4] The Airport is ranked the 6th-best regional airport in India and Central Asia in 2019 and 2020 by Skytrax.[5]

Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorAirports Authority of India
ServesAmritsar, Punjab, India
LocationRajasansi, Amritsar, India
Opened1930(British India) (1930(British India))
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL230 m / 756 ft
Coordinates31°42′28″N 074°47′57″E
Map
ATQ
ATQ
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
16/34 3,657 12,001 Asphalt
Statistics (April 2018 - March 2019)
Passengers2,523,794 (8.8%)
Aircraft movements17,905 (0.8%)
Cargo tonnage1,378
Source: AAI[1]

History

Being named after Sri Guru Ram Das Ji, this airport is located at a distance of 11 km from the city. He was the fourth Sikh Guru and the founder of Amritsar city. The arrival terminal of the city was inaugurated in 2005. In March 2006, the departure terminal has been in operation. In 2009, another terminal building was inaugurated. The airport at present have a hold of about 200 commercial flights a week, both international (United Kingdom, Singapore, UAE, Qatar etc) and domestic. In December 2009, Amritsar Airport has become the fastest-growing airport in India.

In 1930, The Airstrip of Amritsar Rajasansi Airport was established during the British tenure and this airport was used for VVIP movements. After independence, it got connected with cities like Delhi and Srinagar. First international flight to Kabul was launched in 1960. In 1982, Air India started direct international flight from Amritsar to Birmingham (UK) with a stop at Moscow and this flight became so popular that it was termed as no.1 flight for Air India, but Air India stopped its operation at Amritsar Airport due to Operation Blue Star in 1984.

Facilities
Duty-free shop at Amritsar Airport

The arrivals section of the old terminal was inaugurated in September 2005, and the departures section was made operational in March 2006. A new integrated terminal building, built in glass and steel and equipped with modern facilities like an inline X-ray baggage inspection and conveyor system, Flight Information Display System (FIDS), Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE), and CCTV for surveillance among others, was inaugurated on 25 February 2009, with an area of approximately 40,175 square metres (432,440 sq ft), marking an improvement over the earlier 12,770-square-metre (137,500 sq ft) facility. The new terminal building is a blend of modern and Indian designs, constructed in glass and steel with Indian style arches and colours. For the quarter ending 30 June 2016, the airport registered a 59.6% growth of international passenger traffic.[6]

The integrated terminal building has four aerobridges (including new recently fitted ones at bay no. 2 and bay no. 4), an annual capacity of 1.46 million passengers with a peak hour capacity of 1,200 passengers. The building has 30 check-in counters, 4 X-ray scanners (for baggage), 26 immigration counters, 10 custom counters, 12 security check booths, and 4 conveyor belts for arrivals. The apron has been extended to cater for parking of a total of 25 aircraft (8 Category 'E', 3 Category 'D' and 13 Category 'C' types of aircraft & 1 category 'E' for cargo) from the earlier capacity of 15 aircraft and strengthened for parking of Category 'C' type of aircraft. The departure and arrival halls operate duty-free shops. The departure hall also accommodates foreign currency exchange service, a book store, restaurants and other shops for the convenience of departing passengers.[7] The airport registered India's highest passenger growth of over 48% for the year 2017–2018.[8] Currently, the flights coming in the airport connect it direct to over 20 destinations across India and other countries.

Terminal
Bird's eye view of Amritsar International Airport taken from an aircraft taking off

The Amritsar airport is spread over an area of 40,000 sq. meters with 30 check-in counters, 16 immigration counters, 12 custom counters, and 2 security check booths and can handle 600 passengers at arrival and 600 passengers at departure.

Runway

The Airport is a CAT III ILS compliant airport.[9][10] During 2016–17 runway upgrade, the flexible portion runway was strengthened and inset lighting installed for ILS CAT III at a cost of 1.5 billion rupees.[11] On 12 October 2017, the Airports Authority of India issued CAT III-B low visibility procedures (LVP) for Amritsar Airport allowing landing at 50 m visual range.[12] Before Installation of CAT III ILS,CAT II ILS became operational on 23 December 2011 and reduced the visibility requirement for an aircraft landing at Amritsar Airport on Runway 34 from the existing 650 metres to 350 metres benefiting airlines in increased safety and avoiding diversions to other airports resulting in better operational and environmental efficiency.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger
AirlinesDestinations
AirAsia X Kuala Lumpur–International[13]
Air India Birmingham, Delhi, Dubai-International,[14] Kolkata, London–Stansted, Mumbai, Nanded, Patna[15]
Air India Express Delhi, Dubai–International
Alliance Air Delhi
IndiGo Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai (begins 28 March 2021), Delhi, Goa (begins 28 March 2021), Hyderabad (begins 28 March 2021), Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Sharjah, Srinagar [16]
Malindo Air Kuala Lumpur–International[17]
Qatar Airways Doha[18]
Scoot Singapore [19]
SpiceJet Ahmedabad, Delhi, Dubai–International, Guwahati, Jaipur, Kolkata, Leh, Mumbai, Patna
Uzbekistan Airways Tashkent [20]
Vistara Ahmedabad, Delhi [21]

Cargo
AirlinesDestinations
SpiceXpress Bangalore, Delhi, Moscow[22]

Future Plans

Considering the High Traffic at Airport, The Ministry of Civil Aviation has proposed to expand the current integrated passenger terminal at the cost of 240 Crore, the existing capacity of 2.5 Million Passengers per annum will increase to 5.5 Million Passengers per annum.

Along with this projects costing 60 Crores have been approved for construction of addition aprons, parking stands of aircraft and upgrading of terminal building. Projects have been approved and are expected to complete on schedule.

Amritsar Airport is also proposed to leased out for privatisation on a Public Private Partnership basis, along with 5 other major airports of Airports Authority of India. With privatisation, the infrastructure at airport is expect to improve further.

With the completion of Delhi Amritsar Katra Expressway which is currently under construction, the travel time from Amritsar Airport to Delhi Airport will half from current 8 hours to 4 hours.[23]

Connectivity

Road

The Airport is connected by 8 lane National Highway 354, which runs from Amritsar to Ajnala. Taxi can be taken from the taxi stand of the airport. Both Ola Cabs and Uber are available in the city. Autos and local buses also connect the city to the airport.

Metrobus

Amritsar Metrobus is a rapid transit system running in Amritsar Metropolitan Area. Many locations of the region is covered under Phase 1 of the project and Amritsar Airport is scheduled to be a part of Amritsar MetroBus Network in scheduled expansion under Phase 2 of Network.

See also

References
  1. "Aai Traffic News | Airports Authority of India". Aai.aero. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  2. Airports Authority of India [@AAI_Official] (7 September 2020). "#AAI's Amritsar Airport @aaiasrairport, the second largest airport of Northern Region, was strategically set up to ease @DelhiAirport's operational load. The airport's iconic glass & steel structure offers world-class experience with its modern facilities.#IconicAirportTerminals t.co/fZG66TAA3d" (Tweet). Retrieved 9 January 2021 – via Twitter.
  3. C, D. "Amritsar beats all international Airports in India with 83.5% growth in domestic traffic - Asian Independent".
  4. Airports Authority of India [@AAI_Official] (11 December 2020). "#AAI's Amritsar @aaiasrairport has been a hub of cargo movements, domestically and internationally. The airport continues to thrive in delivering essentials and other necessary items across the globe, smoothly. #DeliveringHappiness t.co/lpyjfSWpZG" (Tweet). Retrieved 9 January 2021 – via Twitter.
  5. https://www.worldairportawards.com/worlds-best-regional-airports-2019/
  6. Khare, Harish (30 August 2016). "59.6% increase in passenger footfall at Amritsar airport". Tribuneindia.com. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  7. Press Release By PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=47938
  8. "Amritsar airport tops country in terms of passenger growth | punjab | amritsar | Hindustan Times". M.hindustantimes.com. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  9. "Amritsar Airport ushers in CAT II Instrument Landing System" (PDF). Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  10. "Airports Authority of India". www.aai.aero. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  11. "Amritsar airport set for night flights after runway revamp". Tribuneindia.com. 30 April 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  12. "Low Visibility Procedures" (PDF). Web.archive.org. 9 December 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  13. https://www.anna.aero/2018/08/20/airasia-x-adds-amritsar/
  14. https://www.flyamritsarairport.com/air-india-dubai-to-amritsar/
  15. Schedule (30 January 2021). "AI Timetable". AI.
  16. Schedule, 6E (30 January 2021). "6e Schedule". Indigo Airlines.
  17. https://www.anna.aero/2015/11/24/malindo-air-arrives-australia/
  18. https://www.qatarairways.com/en-in/destinations/flights-to-amritsar.html
  19. https://www.anna.aero/2016/05/31/scoot-inaugurates-indian-services/
  20. https://uzairways.online/en/routes/amritsar-atq
  21. "UK". UK.
  22. Shri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport (U/O) [@amritsarairport] (26 June 2020). "Amritsar Airport welcomes beginning of Cargo Operations of 'SpiceXpress' by @flyspicejet through flight SG7496 which will fly from Amritsar to Moscow, New Delhi and Bengaluru" (Tweet). Retrieved 9 January 2021 – via Twitter.
  23. https://www.amarujala.com/punjab/amritsar/amritsar-airport-to-develop-300-million-amritsar-news-pkl389749144

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