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Kolhapur Airport[4] (IATA: KLH, ICAO: VAKP), also known as Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj Airport[5] is a regional airport in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India. It is situated at Ujlaiwadi, 9 km South-East from Kolhapur. It is operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj Airport
IATA: KLH ICAO: VAKP
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Airports Authority of India
Operator	Airport Director (Kamal Kumar Kataria)
Serves	Kolhapur, Ichalkaranji, Jaysingpur, Sangli, Miraj
Location	Ujlaiwadi
Elevation AMSL	1,988 ft / 606 m
Coordinates	16°39′53″N 074°17′22″E
Website	https://www.aai.aero/en/airports/kolhapur
Map
KLH Location in Maharashtra Show map of Maharashtra KLH KLH (India) Show map of India
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 07/25 6,332 1,930 Asphalt
Statistics (April 2021 - March 2022)
Passengers 96,319 ( 34.6%) Aircraft movement 2,258 ( 16.8%) Cargo tonnage —
Source: AAI[1][2][3]

Future developments

Kolhapur airport is undergoing a major upgrade, making it capable of handling Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft. The upgrade involves a new terminal building, increasing runway length to 2,300 metres, a new combined Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower and fire and rescue building and expanding its apron and related equipment. Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has acquired 223 hectares of adjoining land from local farmers in five villages at the cost of ₹ 80 crore for this purpose.[6]The new terminal is under construction since 2019, and is expected to be completed by 2023.[7]

As of April 2021, the runway has been lengthened from 1,370 to 1,930 metres to the east of the airport, and an additional 64 acres near to highway 277 is acquired to further extend to the full 2,300 metres. Installation of night landing facilities at the airport was completed on the original 1,370 m runway in late 2021. The AAI is preparing a plan to use the airport for overnight parking of aircraft to reduce congestion at the Mumbai and Pune airports.[8]

The 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. The facility was provided by Hindustan Petroleum, and will henceforth remain available on a permanent basis. Earlier, the limited availability of the fuel restricted the number of passengers on board an aircraft to some extent. However, that would not be the case any more. With the availability of aviation fuel, the number of passengers will increase.

On airline operations, IndiGo is operating from the airport to Tirupati. At present, the airport hosts daily flights for Tirupati, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, carrying over 8,000 passengers since December 2021. While one low-budget domestic airline had started its operations earlier last year, more airlines are likely to join the services in the future. Alliance Air is also operating on Hyderabad and Bengaluru routes.

History

In January 1939, Air Services of India, a private airline based out of Juhu Aerodrome,[9] (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. [10]

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.[11] 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.[12][13] The Maharashtra Government then handed over the airport to the AAI in August 2013.[14]

The airport was closed for repairs by order of the DGCA on 16 June 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.[15] Kingfisher Airlines resumed commercial flights on 10 June 2011.[16] The service to Mumbai was suspended in November 2011 when the airline pulled out of several towns citing financial losses.[17] 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[18] under the UDAN scheme.[19]

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.[20]

First Airport Director (Kamal Kumar Kataria) appointed on 13 December 2018 by Airports Authority of India. For Kolhapur Airport development.^{[citation needed]}

The foundation stone for a new terminal building and ATC Tower was laid by Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu on 2 February 2019.[21] 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.[22]

Statistics

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations	Refs.
IndiGo	Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Tirupati	[23][24][25]
Star Air	Mumbai	[26]

References

• "By 2020, Nashik likely to be one of India's busiest airports". Freepressjournal. 19 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.

External links

• Kolhapur City Airline Enquiry

На других языках

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[de] Flughafen Kolhapur

Der ca. 606 m hoch gelegene Flughafen Kolhapur (englisch Kolhapur Airport) ist ein nationaler Flughafen ca. 9 km (Fahrtstrecke) südöstlich der Großstadt Kolhapur im indischen Bundesstaat Maharashtra.

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- [en] Kolhapur Airport

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