Agra Airport | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Military/Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Indian Air Force | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Airports Authority of India | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Agra | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Kheria, Agra,Uttar Pradesh,India | ||||||||||||||
| Opened | 15 August 1947; 78 years ago (1947-08-15)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 551 ft / 167.94 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 27°09′43″N77°58′15″E / 27.1618309°N 77.9707261°E /27.1618309; 77.9707261 | ||||||||||||||
| Website | Agra Airport | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  AGR Location of airport in Uttar Pradesh Show map of Uttar Pradesh AGR AGR (India) Show map of India | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (April 2024 - March 2025) | |||||||||||||||
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| Source:AAI[2][3][4] | |||||||||||||||
Agra Airport[5][6] (IATA:AGR,ICAO:VIAG), also known asKheria Airport,[1] is adual use airport withIndian Air Force base and adomestic airport civil enclave serving theAgra city in thestate ofUttar Pradesh,India.[7]
To meet the growing demands and traffic, the airport will get a new terminal building that will be much larger than the existing terminal, leading to enhanced connectivity and socio-economic growth in Agra and the rest of the state. Itsfoundation stone was laid byPrime MinisterNarendra Modi in October 2024.[8] Construction is set to begin by the second half of 2025, and is slated to be completed by the end of 2027 or by the first half of 2028.[9]
The airportis named after the eponymous city Agra. The airport has been proposed to be renamed afterPandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, a renowned independence activist, social reformer and leader.[7]
The station was opened during theWorld War II as Royal Air Forces Station Agra and had a number of flying units located there. During World War II, theUnited States Army Air ForcesAir Technical Service Command established a major maintenance and supply facility at Agra, named "Agra Air Depot". The 3rd Air Depot Group serviced a wide variety of fighter, bomber and transport aircraft being used byTenth Air Force and the Allied ground forces inBurma andFourteenth Air Force inChina. The depot stockpiled large amounts of material for shipment over theHimalayan Mountains ("The Hump") byAir Transport Command cargo aircraft flying toforward airfields in China. It also was a major stopover point on the ATCKarachi-Kunming air transport route.[10] The airport is mentioned in a chapter inErnest Gann'sFate Is the Hunter, wherein he relays a story of coming within feet of destroying the Taj Mahal in a severely overloaded C-87 after takeoff.[11]
It was closed after the World War II and transferred to theRoyal Indian Air Force. The prefix Royal was later dropped and the station was later renamed as the Air Force Station Agra on 15 August 1947 and placed under the command of Wing Commander Shivdev Singh, who was the incumbent commander of the No. 12 Sqn. Based on the then-present system of Commands, the airfield fell under the responsibility of theWestern Air Command (WAC). The base remained under this Theatre Command for the next two decades. In July 1971 it was transferred to theCentral Air Command (CAC), where it remains today.
The airport is served by runway 05/23, which is 2,743.2 meters (9,000 ft) long and 45 meters (148 ft) wide and runway 12/30, which is 1,817.83 meters (5,964.0 ft) long and 45 meters (148 ft) wide. The airport hasILS CAT-II compliant for landing during the bad weather and foggy conditions.[12]
The Agra air force station is one of the largest airbases of the Indian Air Force.[7] During its history with the IAF, it has seen the likes ofC-47 Dakotas,C-119 Packets,HS 748 'Avros',AN-12s,AN-32s,IL-76s, Canberras,IL-78 MKI, and now theAirborne Early Warning and Control/AWACS. The station also has the honor of holding the firstinflight refueling aircraft Squadron in IAF service, with No. 78 ‘Mid Air Refuelling Squadron’ (MARS) Squadron flying the IL-78MKIs.
List of squadrons operating from Agra Air Force Station (under the aegis of theCentral Air Command) includes:
The airport has one operational domestic terminal for the civil aviation and one planned. The current civil terminal has an area of 4,870 m2 (52,400 sq ft) with a capacity of 250 Arrivals and 250 Departures.[12] Air Force Arjun Nagar Gate is dedicated to civil aviation passenger entry to the civil enclave of the airport.
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| IndiGo | Ahmedabad,Bengaluru,Hyderabad,[14]Mumbai |
On 12 September 2023, theUttar Pradesh cabinet cleared a 123 crore (US$15 million) proposal for land acquisition to expand the civil enclave of Agra Airport and upgrade the airport tointernational category.[15] The proposed expansion plan will involve acquisition of 92.50 acres of land fromAbhaypura, Balhera, andDhanauli. The plan also includes building a 30,000 sqm new terminal equipped with nine bays to accommodate nineAirbus A321 aircraft, the extension of the present runways, and other airport facilities. The new terminal is expected to be built in the 36 months once all the approvals and funding have been granted.[16]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
The Agra Airport will be renamed after RSS ideologue Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay airport.
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