AAI has sought land for Bhavnagar airport expansion: Scindia in RS

“The current Bhavnagar terminal spans 1,275 square metres and is capable of handling up to 150 passengers during the peak hours. Additionally, the airport’s runway has a dimension of 1,920 metres by 45 metres, catering to ATR72/Q400 type aircraft operations. At present, there are two scheduled flights per day with weekly 24 movements,” the reply stated. The request for land is under consideration with the state government.

The land is being sought at a time when an international airport is being built near the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) to cater to 100 million passengers primarily from Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar and the surrounding areas. The new airport, expected to be commissioned by 2025-26, is being built on 3,000 acres by Dholera International Airport Company Ltd (DACL), a joint-venture between AAI (51 per cent equity stake), the Gujarat government (33 per cent stake) and National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (16 per cent).

“We will have to fight for the betterment of Bhavnagar airport, especially because the Dholera international airport project currently looks like a dream. I am doubtful if the airport at Dholera will ever come up. Secondly, the existing terminal building of the Bhavnagar airport is about 40 years old and the airport is able to handle only small planes. This forces people to travel over 170 kilometres to Ahmedabad to board a plane,” Congress MP Gohil told The Indian Express.  According to AAI data, 2,013 aircraft movements were recorded at the existing terminal in Bhavnagar during the financial year 2022-23. A total of 60,956 domestic passengers used the terminal during this one-year period.

In 2007 — when the Dholera SIR and international airport project was yet to be conceived — AAI had made a similar demand for 490 acres from the Gujarat government to modernise the Bhavnagar airport. The project did not go ahead as the existing facilities were considered adequate to cater to the air passenger traffic that existed 15 years ago.