The developmental activities at the Shirdi airport, which has achieved 80 per cent passenger occupancy in one year since inauguration, is in full swing, said officials .
The work for the expansion of the existing runway at the Shirdi airport from 2,500 metres to 3,200 metres along with the night landing facility is to be completed in April, said Dhiren Bhosale, director, Shirdi airport. “The extended runway will enable the services of the wide-bodied aircrafts like the Air bus 377, thus increasing footfall,” he said.
As of now, with the 2,500 metres runway, the airport is capable of handling only single narrow-body aircrafts, such as Airbus A320 and Boeing 737s.
“Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited (MADC) has also floated tenders for the construction of a new state-of-art air traffic control (ATC) tower for the Shirdi airport,” said CS Gupta, executive director, MADC.
According to Gupta, the construction work of the new ATC tower will be completed in the next two years.
“MADC would also initiate the work through third parties for developing the facilities such as hotels and meditation halls. MADC has allotted an additional expenditure of Rs 210 crore for developing the airport.
Ever since the Shirdi airport became operational on October 1, 2017, it has successfully operated 1,500 flights and 70,000 passengers. The number is expected to increase significantly as direct flights from Shirdi to cities like Jaipur, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru are have been planned.
Besides flight operations, MADC is also working on increasing the size of the airport terminal while it has already increased the basic facilities such as waiting chairs and trolleys at the airport.
{{/usCountry}}Besides flight operations, MADC is also working on increasing the size of the airport terminal while it has already increased the basic facilities such as waiting chairs and trolleys at the airport.
{{/usCountry}}Currently, there are three ambulances stationed at the Shirdi airport.