Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Airport | |||||||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
Owner/Operator | Airport Authority of India | ||||||||||||||
Serves | Gwalior | ||||||||||||||
Location | Maharajpura, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India | ||||||||||||||
Opened | 1940[1] | ||||||||||||||
Time zone | Indian Standard Time (+5:30) | ||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 617 ft / 188 m | ||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 26°17′36″N 078°13′40″E / 26.29333°N 78.22778°E | ||||||||||||||
Website | Gwalior Airport | ||||||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||
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Statistics (April 2023 – March 2024) | |||||||||||||||
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Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Airport (IATA: GWL, ICAO: VIGR), also known as Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Terminal, is a Domestic Airport manage and operates by Airport Authority of India serving the city of Gwalior,[5] Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located in Maharajpura, 10 km (6 mi) north-east of Gwalior. It is one of the four major airports in Madhya Pradesh. The airport is named after Vijaya Raje Scindia, one of the founding members of Bharatiya Janata Party, former prominent Member of Parliament and Maharani of the erstwhile Gwalior State ruled by the Scindia dynasty. It is the oldest and largest airport of Madhya Pradesh in terms of size and only airport in Central India which has two runways. It is the closest Airport to the famous Kuno National Park[6] (home to Namibian Cheetahs).
In 1937, JRD Tata and Nevill Vincent piloted a Waco YQC-6 biplane VT-AIX on the first airmail service between Gwalior and Bombay.[7]
The airport is spread over 760.7 acres (307.8 hectares). The terminal building is spread over 20,000 m2 (220,000 sq ft), completed in 16 months and can handle 1,400 peak hour passengers, which is 3 times more than the old terminal building, and ancillary buildings, car parking, city-side development and other associated works at the airport. The construction of the new apron and the taxiways including associated works for parking of 13 narrow body or small aircraft at the airport and there are some modern technologies, such as rainwater harvesting and solar energy will be used in the development of the new terminal building, by the commissioning of a new 2.5 GW solar power plant. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has taken up the work for expansion of the airport. The airport is the only air force base in India with two operational parallel runways.
During the outbreak of World War I in 1942, the Royal Air Force (RAF) built this airport as a training base for pilots, and it also played an important role in the war effort, contributing to the Allied victory. When the war ended in 1947, it was transferred to the Indian Air Force (IAF), which also coincided with India’s independence. Indian Air Force IAS continues to operate a base at the airport, contributing to national security. Civil Aviation was opened in 1958, marking the beginning of new commercial connectivity for Gwalior airport. The airport’s first commercial flight was an Indian Airlines Douglas DC3 from Delhi [8]
The second runway was built in February 2009 and became operational in October 2010. airport’s infrastructure and facilities were upgraded during the 2000s. Recent changes include the construction of a new and larger terminal building at Gwalior airport, as well as the addition of some modern amenities is completed.
Airlines | Destinations |
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Air India Express | Bangalore,[9] Hyderabad (resumes 27 October 2024)[10] |
IndiGo | Delhi,[11] Mumbai[12] |
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
Media related to Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia Airport at Wikimedia Commons