Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | Airports Authority of India | ||||||||||
| Operator | Airports Authority of India | ||||||||||
| Serves | Indore | ||||||||||
| Location | Bijasan, Indore,Madhya Pradesh,India | ||||||||||
| Opened | 1948; 78 years ago (1948) 29 May 2019 (2019-05-29) (upgraded to international) | ||||||||||
| Hub for | IndiGo | ||||||||||
| Focus city for | |||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 1,850 ft / 528 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 22°43′18″N75°48′03″E / 22.72167°N 75.80083°E /22.72167; 75.80083 | ||||||||||
| Website | Indore Airport | ||||||||||
| Maps | |||||||||||
  IDR  IDR | |||||||||||
 Interactive map of Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Statistics (April 2024 - March 2025) | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Source:AAI[1][2][3] | |||||||||||
Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport (IATA:IDR,ICAO:VAID) is ancustoms airport[a] serving the city ofIndore,Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the busiest airport inCentral India and is located 8 km (5.0 mi) west of Indore. According to the statistics released by theAirports Authority of India (AAI), the agency responsible for the maintenance and management of the airport, it was the21st-busiest airport in India by passenger traffic in the year 2024-25. The airport is named afterAhilyabai Holkar, theRani of the erstwhileIndore State. Since 24 March 2018, it has started operations 24*7 with night landing facilities.
TheIndore State administration, after consultingNevill Vintcent ofMessrs Tata and Sons (Aviation Department), selected the Bijasan site for the construction of the airport in 1935. Air services from Indore toGwalior,Delhi andMumbai began in July 1948. The airport was handed over to theGovernment of India in April 1950 under the Central Financial Integration Scheme. A new runway measuring 5,600 feet in length was completed by March 1966 at a cost of₹15 lakh to accommodate larger aircraft. Night landing facilities were also provided.[4] TheMinistry of Civil Aviation has given its approval to the airport for operating international flights making it the first airport in Madhya Pradesh to do so.[5]
DABH Airport measures 729 acres (295 ha)s and the current terminal building is spread over 18,000 m2 (190,000 sq ft). The main apron has space for oneB737, fourB737/A321, fourATR72 and oneQ400 aircraft simultaneously. MPFC Flying Club is at the south end of the runway; its apron has space for four-C172 aircraft simultaneously.[6] The sole runway 07/25 is 2,750 metres long and 45 metres wide.
The airfield is equipped with night landing facilities and a CAT-1Instrument Landing System (ILS) (on Runway 25 only) as well as navigational facilities likeDVOR/DME and an NDB. The runway is being extended as a part of the expansion plan for the airport.[7]
Indore's new expandableintegrated terminal building was inaugurated on 14 February 2012. It was built by AAI at a cost of₹135 crore (US$16 million) and is capable of handling 700 passengers per hour.[8]The new terminal has modern escalators and a high-techbaggage handling system. It caters to the movement of 96 flights every day. In preparation towards the proposed international operations, it will have 16 check-in counters, 16 immigration counters (four for departure and 12 for arrivals) and four counters for customs, apart from 569 CCTVs and X-ray machines for security.
There are five aerobridges serving the airport. The terminal has one lift and three escalator conveyor belt for baggage. As per the international standards, it has two ATMs (01SBI and 01Union Bank of India), shopping stalls and a food court.[9] The airport is under an expansion stage. A new terminal adjoining the current terminal, along with an airport hotel and a convention center, are planned at the airport site.
In view of the future and the growing traffic, due to which the airport may not be able to cope up with it, at least after the present decade, a new airport has been proposed, which is planned to become India's largestgreenfield airport nearChapda town, about 40 km (25 mi) from Indore. The plan has been approved by theMinistry of Civil Aviation.[16][17]
DABH airport was adjudged as theBest Airport in under 20 lakh (2 million) annual passenger footfall category inAsia-Pacific region in theAirports Council International (ACI)'s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey's rankings for the year 2017. TheWorld Book of Records, UK, bestowed theWorlds Standardisation Certification to the airport for the achievement of ACI Award 2017 on 9 April 2018.
