Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport
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Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport Amritsar International Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Airports Authority of India | ||||||||||
| Serves | Amritsar, India | ||||||||||
| Location | Amritsar, India | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 756 ft / 230 m | ||||||||||
| Website | www.aai.aero/... | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
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| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (Apr 2013 – Mar 2014) | |||||||||||
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Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport (IATA: ATQ, ICAO: VIAR) named after Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru and the founder of Amritsar city, is an international airport about 11 kilometres (7 mi) northwest of the city of Amritsar, India. It is located on the Amritsar-Ajnala Road, near the village of Raja Sansi. Besides Amritsar, the airport serves neighbouring areas of Punjab, Western districts of Himachal Pradesh and Southern districts of Jammu and Kashmir. The new integrated terminal has double the capacity of the old terminal.
The airport currently handles about 100 commercial flights a week including both international and domestic. Most flights to and from Europe are connecting flights e.g. London – Doha – Amritsar.
Expansion and renovation
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 metres (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. The airport registered a passenger growth of 64.6% during April–December 2009 which made it the fastest growing airport in India.[5]
The integrated terminal building at Amritsar has an annual capacity of 1.46 million passengers with a peak hour capacity of 1,200 passengers. The integrated 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 14 aircraft (8 Category 'E’, 3 Category 'D’ and 3 Category 'C’ types of aircraft) from the earlier capacity of ten aircraft and strengthened for parking of Category 'E’ 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.:.[6] The airport also has:
- A brand new cargo handling facility due to demands from exporters in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
- A site for the Permanent Perishable Cargo Center, located close to the air cargo complex, which has a capacity of 200 tonnes (200 long tons; 220 short tons) per day.
- Passenger terminal building of size 41,000 square metres (440,000 sq ft).
- Four new aerobridges installed, of which two are operational.
- 14 Parking, increased from previous 5.
- The runway, extended by 369 metres (1,211 ft) to a total length of 3,658 metres (12,001 ft).
- A new car park for passengers and visitors.
The development and modernisation plans for the city-side of the was completed by 2010, through a public-private partnership (PPP). AAI takes care of the air-side development of the airport.
The government wants the consortium of the selected bidder and the AAI to commercially operate the airports and maintain their terminal buildings.[citation needed] It would also be responsible for developing and operating cargo facilities at these airports, besides undertaking the city-side development.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) had placed orders for equipment required for a CAT II Instrument Landing System (ILS) from a German based flight safety equipment firm Thales.[7] The ILS became operational on 23 December 2011. The upgrade of the system to Category II required improving the airport infrastructure, the removal of obstacles in and around the airport and training for the air traffic controllers and maintenance personnel.
The system has reduced the visibility requirement for an aircraft landing at Amritsar Airport from the existing 650 metres to 350 metres benefiting airlines in terms of increased safety and avoiding diversions to other airports resulting in better operational and environmental efficiency.[8]
The airport modernisation process is part of the upgrade process of 35 non-metro airports in the country by 2010. The latest ILS installed at Amritsar Airport has performed well enough such that some of the international flights which cannot land safely at Indira Gandhi International Airport are diverted to Amritsar.[citation needed]
Airlines and destinations
Ground transport
The airport is well-connected to the major national and state highways. Private transport in the form of automobiles is the most popular way of reaching the airport, with the exception of taxis. However, this is expected to change with the Punjab State Government's unveiling of plans to initiate regular bus services between the airport and other cities of Punjab. Air India has also unveiled plans to provide a regular bus service for its air passengers to and from Jalandhar. The state government has also unveiled plans to build a monorail line to connect the airport with Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) and the Railway Station in Amritsar.
References
- ^ http://www.aai.aero/traffic_news/TROCT11.pdf
- ^ http://www.aai.aero/traffic_news/oct2k11annex2.pdf
- ^ http://www.aai.aero/traffic_news/oct2k11annex3.pdf
- ^ http://www.aai.aero/traffic_news/oct2k11annex4.pdf
- ^ Traffic, fliers' flow grow at Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport – The Times of India
- ^ Press Release By PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=47938
- ^ Rajasansi airport to update landing system
- ^ Amritsar Airport ushers in CAT II Instrument Landing System
External links
