Everything You Need To Know About Nagpur Airport

Today, Nagpur may be better known for the juicy oranges that grow here, but the winter capital of Maharashtra has a rich past heritage and a strategic location. Owing to the two facts, an airport was commissioned in the city during the World War-I itself. Since then, the airport has been improved upon to reach its current level.

As it readies itself to be run by private hands, here is all you need to know about the airport:

Formally named the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport in 2005, the airport in Nagpur is located eight kilometres south-west of the city. The airport is spread over 1,360 hectares of land.

The nearest bus station – the Mor Bhavan MSRTC City Bus Stand ─ lies 7.5 kms away from the airport while the Nagpur Railway Station is 10 kms from here.  If you hire a taxi to reach the city centre, it should take you 20 minutes to reach your destination.  The official site of the airport says that "to improve the connectivity between the airport and the city, it is planned to build a new approach road to connect the Terminal building with the main highway".

The airport that serves the largest city in central India handled over 18 lakh passengers in 2019. The airport handles about 4,000 passengers daily. The target is to equip the airport to be able to handle seven million passengers annually by 2044-45.

The existing airport will be developed as a cargo hub. “Its unique location at the crossing of the air route between Europe and South-East Asia, as well as between South Africa and North-East Asia, makes it a logical and ideal location for passenger and cargo hub,” says the official Mihan (Multi-modal International Hub Airport at Nagpur) Indian Ltd (MIL) site.

The airport has two terminals, Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. While Terminal 1 handles flight traffic meant to serve within the country (16 cities to be precise) , Terminal 2 host international flights (all these flights go to West Asian countries) .  While Terminal 1 can handle over 400 arriving and 400 departing passengers, Terminal 2 has the capacity to handle 150 arriving and 150 departing passengers. Terminal 2 was inaugurated in 2008, three years after the airport launched operations.

The airport is currently operated by MIL, is a joint venture between the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) .  While the MADC holds 51 per cent equity in the venture, the AAI holds 49 per cent equity.

Reportedly, the state Cabinet has cleared a proposal to privatise the airport. According to media reports, bids for the same may be floated by the end of this year. Corporate giants such as Essel Infrastructure, IRB, GVK, GMR, PNC Infrastructure and Tata Realty are competing to win bids for the same.