Skies Wide Open: Vadodara Airport All Set To Get International Flights

Vadodara Airport in Gujarat will soon find a place on the global civil aviation map.

This comes in the backdrop of the Centre issuing the gazette notification through which Vadodara airport will get immigration and customs facilities.

The city MP Ranjan Bhatt on 20 March said that Union home minister Amit Shah during his visit to the city on Saturday (18 March) had handed over the gazette notification paving the way for the launch of international connectivity.

She added that on 18 February, the Union Home ministry had written a letter to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Gujarat government after which an inspection team had come for assessing the facilities available at Vadodara airport.

"Since our airport already has the necessary space and infrastructure like the conveyor belts, space for setting up immigration and customs facilities, starting the new facilities will not be an issue now," she said.

The civil airport is located at Harni which is about 8 km South East from Vadodara Junction Railway Station.

There has been a long pending demand for airline connectivity to international destinations since a new terminal built for international flights at the city airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017.

The terminal at the airport on the city outskirts, is spread over 18,120 square metre and can handle 700 passengers (domestic plus international) per hour and has 18 check-in counters.

International flights for neighbouring countries will be available from the terminal, but there will be no direct service for the US or the UK as the runway length is not enough to accommodate big aircraft.

It is hoped that at least flights to Dubai or Sharjah will start, once the necessary immigration infrastructure is put in place.