Mangalore international airport

Mangalore Airport,[6][7] (IATA: IXE, ICAO: VOML) formerly known as Bajpe Airport, is an international airport[8] serving the coastal city of Mangalore, India. Several daily flights connect Mangalore with most major cities in southern and western India as well as many major cities in the Middle East. The airport was opened on 25 December 1951[9] as the Bajpe Aerodrome when then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru arrived on the maiden flight on a DC-3 Dakota aircraft.[9][10] It was the first in the state of Karnataka to have two runways, one of which was fully concrete. Mangalore Airport is capable of handling aircraft up to A310 size in all weather conditions. Night operations are permitted.

The operation of international flights started in 2006 with Air India Express flying to Dubai. Mangalore Airport was a customs airport[12] for six years from 3 October 2006 to 3 October 2012, before it was granted the status of International Airport.

The 61-year-old facility has seen tremendous growth from its first flight, a single cargo-cum-passenger Dakota planes in 1951 to modern Boeings and Airbuses. Mangalore being a one of major port city of India having world-class industries and educational institutions, helping Mangalore Airport to clock record growth in passenger traffic.[14]

The airport is near Bajpe, around 20 km (12 mi) northeast of the city centre. It is on top of a hill, with two tabletop runways 9/27 and 6/24. Only two other airports in India have table top runways — Kozhikode and Lengpui.[15] As of October 2012, it has facilities for handling 400 passengers in the domestic arrival hall and 150 international passengers in the international hall.

On 28 September 2012 an Airbus A310, a first of aircraft in that class, landed for the first time at Mangalore. It was a charter flight for the Hajj pilgrims to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.[17] On 10 January 2006 an Airbus A319 of Kingfisher Airlines was the first aircraft in that class to land on the new runway.[18] Until 2005, its small 1,600 m (5,249 ft) runway meant that it could only handle Boeing 737-400 size aircraft. The longer runway now handles slightly larger aircraft.

Growth of passenger traffic at the Mangalore Airport can be gauged by the fact that it handled 9.29 lakh passengers from July 2011 to June 2012 although it was projected to handle 9 lakh passengers in 2025.[19]

In 2007–08 the airport handled 10,019 aircraft movements as compared to 6,268 the previous year.[21]

In 2011–12 it had a revenue of INR 42.64 crores and an operating profit of INR 8.76 crores,[2] up from INR 83 lakhs in 2006–07.[22] In 2012-13 the airport handled a landmark 1.02 million passengers with 11,940 aircraft movements. The revenue for the same period was Rs 50.66 crore, and it recorded an operating profit of Rs 16.49 crore during 2012-13.

The first runway 9/27 of length 1,615 m (5,299 ft) was built opened in 1951. Its landing approaches lead up to the extreme edges of the hillsides and was thus called a tabletop runway.[23][24] The edges of the hill dropping into the valley from a height of about 90 m (300 ft) to 9 m (30 ft)) within a short distance of just 500 m (1,600 ft) on the east of the runway and from about 83 m (272 ft) to 25 m (82 ft) on the western side.[23] An additional disadvantage was that the runway was not level, with the height varying from 90 m (300 ft) to 83 m (272 ft) from east to west. Landing on this short runway was considered difficult.[23]

The second runway 6/24 of length 2,450 m (8,038 ft) was opened on 10 May 2006. A Jet Airways flight from Bangalore with 95 passengers on board became the first to land on this runway.[25] With this, Mangalore Airport has become the first airport in Karnataka to have two runways[26] and the first to have a runway made of concrete.[27] The airport has acquired land to build a taxiway parallel to the new runway to reduce aircraft on ground time.

Union minister of state for civil aviation Praful Patel announced on 15 May 2010 that a work order for extending the runway to 9,000 feet (2,740 m) would be issued soon.[28] After the air crash of Air India Flight 812 the minister reaffirmed on 30 May 2010 that the runway extension will take place and will take into account the spillover area required during an emergency.

On 11 July 2011 at the meeting of the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat, it was informed that the Karnataka government will be issuing preliminary notification for the acquisition of land for the extension of runway. The process of land survey for runway expansion has been started, and the preliminary notification for acquisition would be issued in a week. Around 156 acres will be required for runway expansion, and an amount of INR 15 crores has been set aside in the state budget for Mangalore airport work.

Provision of runway end safety area, ensuring proper markings on the runway and proper maintenance of the basic strip were implemented in after the directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) identified this as one of the 11 airports in India as unsafe.

The new airport project was taken up to be developed in an area of about 2.36 square kilometres (580 acres) of land. In the first phase a 43,000 m2 (460,000 sq ft) apron was constructed at a cost of INR18.19 crore (US$2.8 million) and connected to the second runway.[33] The new terminal building built over 280,000 square metres (69 acres) of land and constructed at a cost of INR150 crore (US$23 million),[34][35] with work completing in December 2009.[35] It is centrally air-conditioned, and covers an area of 18,220 square metres (196,100 sq ft). It is equipped with two aerobridges with provision for adding more in the future. It is designed to separately handle domestic and international passengers. The apron can accommodate four A310 class and an A321 class aircraft at a time, with provision for three more aircraft to be added at a future stage. Including the old airport, the total capacity is nine aircraft and two helicopters.

The road to the new terminal reduces the distance between Mangalore and the airport by about 8 km (5.0 mi).[34] The airport had the trial run of the terminal for domestic flights on 16 December 2009.[37] On 15 May 2010, the terminal building was inaugurated by Civil Aviation Minister, Praful Patel,[38] along with former Chief Minister of Karnataka, B. S. Yeddyurappa. It was to be opened to air traffic on 1 July 2010, but it became operational on 2 August 2010 due to the delays caused by the Air India Express Flight 812 accident.

Since 1 September 2010, the airport is charging a user development fee (UDF) of INR150 (US$2.30) per passenger for domestic flights and INR825 (US$13) for international flights. This proposal has been approved by the Civil Aviation Ministry.