Shirdi Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | Maharashtra Airport Development Company | ||||||||||
| Operator | Airports Authority of India | ||||||||||
| Serves | Shirdi | ||||||||||
| Location | Kakadi,Ahmednagar district,Maharashtra,India | ||||||||||
| Opened | 1 October 2017; 8 years ago (2017-10-01)[1] | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 1,909 ft / 582 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 19°41′19″N074°22′44″E / 19.68861°N 74.37889°E /19.68861; 74.37889 | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  SAG  SAG | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (April 2024 – March 2025) | |||||||||||
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| Source:AAI[2][3][4] | |||||||||||
Shirdi Airport (IATA:SAG,ICAO:VASD) is aninternational airport[5] serving the town ofShirdi,Maharashtra,India. It is located at Kakadi, about 15 km (9.3 mi) southwest of the town and 22 km (14 mi) fromSangamner. It is the fourth-busiest airport in the state afterMumbai,Pune, andNagpur airports.[6] The airport, spread over 400 hectares, is owned by theMaharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) and was inaugurated byPresident,Ram Nath Kovind on 1 October 2017.[7]Communication Navigation Surveillance (CNS) andAir Traffic Control (ATC) at the airport is operated by theAirports Authority of India (AAI).[8]
TheAhmednagar district administration officially acquired land for thegreenfield airport project on 22 December 2009.[9]The Rs. 340 crore airport project was part of the State Government's effort to promote religious tourism at Shirdi, known for the temple ofSai Baba, among the most revered spiritual gurus in India. Around 60,000 devotees who visit the temple town daily used to access Shirdi via road,Sainagar Shirdi Railway Station,Manmad Junction railway station and theAurangabad andPune airports located 125 km and 186 km respectively from Shirdi.The single runway was initially intended to be 60 metres wide and 2,000 metres long and the airport was expected to start operations in December 2011.[10] However, the MADC decided to extend the length of the runway to 3,200 metres to enable operations of larger aircraft and consequently the project missed its deadline.[11] Runway length now stands at 2,500 metres.[12] Plans for a terminal building costing around Rs. 40 crore were abandoned due to shortage of funds and a smaller terminal costing 3-4 crores was built instead.[12]The work was expected to be completed before the forthcoming centenary celebrations of Sai Baba'sSamadhi that will draw thousands of devotees to the pilgrim town from various parts of the country as well as abroad.[13]MADC completed the construction work by February 2016 and applied to theDirectorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for an aerodrome licence to commence operation of non-scheduled flights.[14]The DGCA issued the licence on 21 September 2017 and stated that the runway of 2,500 meters is capable of handling Code 3C type aircraft such as theAirbus A320 andBoeing 737. AnAlliance Air ATR-72 operated a test run from Mumbai Airport, landing at Shirdi on 26 September 2017.[15]
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| IndiGo | Bengaluru,Chennai,Delhi,Hyderabad |
The airport is equipped with a runway 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) in length. The terminal covers 2,750 square metres (29,600 sq ft) and has a capacity for 500 passengers daily.[16]In July 2019, the state government gave approvals for the extension of the runway from 2,500 metres (8,200 ft) to 3,200 metres (10,500 ft), construction of a new terminal building to increase hourly passenger capacity from 300 per hour to 1000 per hour and operationalisation of night-landing facilities at the airport. ADVOR system was installed at the airport in September 2019 to enable aircraft to land at the airport in low visibility.[17]
