Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport
Encyclopedia
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport ( Netaji Shubhashchôndro Boshu Antorjatik Bimanbôndor) is an airport
located in Kolkata
, West Bengal
, India
, serving the greater Kolkata metro area. The airport was originally known as Dum Dum Airport before being renamed in the honour of Subhas Chandra Bose. From April 2006 to March 2011, it was the fifth busiest airport in the country in terms of overall passenger traffic, and ninth busiest in terms of international passenger traffic. It is located approximately 17 km (10.6 mi) from Kolkata's city centre.
The airport is the largest in eastern India
and one of only two international airports operating in West Bengal, the other being in Bagdogra
. It is a major centre for flights to North-East India
, Bangladesh
and Southeast Asia
.
in 1937.
The airport was originally an open ground next to the Royal Artillery
Armoury in Dum Dum. In 1924, KLM began scheduled stops at Kolkata, as part of their Amsterdam
to Batavia (Jakarta
) flight The same year, a Royal Air Force
aircraft landed in Kolkata as part of the first round-the-world expedition by any air force.
Sir Stanley Jackson, Governor of Bengal, opened the Bengal Flying Club at Kolkata aerodrome in February 1929. In 1930, the airfield was made fit for use throughout the year, and other airlines began to utilise the airport. Air Orient
began scheduled stops as part of a Paris to Saigon
route, and Imperial Airways
began flights from London to Australia via Kolkata in 1933. This began a trend that drew many airlines to Kolkata airport.
Kolkata played an important role in the Second World War
. In 1942, the United States Army Air Force 7th Bombardment Group flew B-24 Liberator
bombers from the airport on combat missions over Burma
. The airfield was also used as a cargo aerial port throughout the war for supplies and equipment by Air Transport Command
, as well as being a communication centre for the Tenth Air Force
.
Passenger services grew after the Second World War. Kolkata became a destination for the world’s first jet-powered passenger aircraft, the de Havilland Comet
, on a British Overseas Airways Corporation
(BOAC) route to London
. Furthermore, in 1964 Indian Airlines introduced the first Indian domestic jet service, using Caravelle
jets on the Calcutta - Delhi route. The international terminal was opened in 1970, which saw the introduction of flights from airlines such as Japan Airlines
, Qantas
, Swiss Air and Cathay Pacific
. However, the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War
saw a large increase in both refugees and disease in Kolkata, causing some airlines to cease services to the city. In 1975, the airport opened the first dedicated cargo terminal in India.
The 1990s saw new growth for Kolkata airport, as the Indian aviation industry saw the arrival of new airlines such as Jet Airways
and Air Sahara
. The current domestic terminal was opened in 1995, and the airport was renamed in honour of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. In 2000, a new international arrival hall was opened. Finally, 2005 saw the growth of Low Cost Carriers in the Indian aviation sector, with new airlines including SpiceJet
, IndiGo
and Kingfisher Airlines
. This led to a dramatic rise in passenger numbers at the airport.
The airport has three terminals
: a domestic terminal, an international terminal and a cargo terminal. The domestic terminal was extended in 2009 to cater to an increasing demand of passengers. New ticketing counters, check-in kiosks and cafes were added. The airport has four aerobridges, with three in the domestic terminal and one in the international terminal. The current terminals have reached over-capacity, as there has recently been a huge increase in the number of passengers travelling through the airport. It is expected that the airport will handle additional four million passengers every year from 2012, up from the 1.01 million now it handles. Passenger lounges are provided by Air India
, Jet Airways
, and Kingfisher Airlines
. Catering facilities are owned by Taj-Sats and Oberoi
Flight Services.
The airport has two parallel runway
s 01/19 L/R, of which the longer one, 01R/19L is used for takeoff
s and landing
s, while the other one is used mostly as a taxiway
and for aircraft landing during daytime. The expansion of this runway is hampered by a 119-year old mosque
that lies 100 feet north of the runway, within the airport property.. Air India
operates hangars at the airport, while Bharat Petroleum
and Indian Oil act as fuellers.
The the Airports Authority of India
(AAI) has recently added cargo-handling capacity to the airport, which is sufficient to cater to the demand up to 2015-16. There has been a 25 per cent growth in international cargo movement to and from Kolkata airport and a 15 per cent increase in outward transit. Automobile parts accounted for the bulk of the growth in the movement of cargo from the city to other countries. In November 2008 the first Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC) in West Bengal was opened at the airport. The CPC has an area of 742.5 m² (888 sq yd) and an annual storage capacity of 12,000 million tonnes. The CPC had been undergoing trials that started in June 2008 and was built with a grant-in-aid from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) part of the Commerce Ministry. The volume of export was 21,683 ton in 2008-09, during the current fiscal more than 23,042 ton of cargo were handled by the NSCBI authorities. Similarly the volume of import cargo was increased from 16,863 ton to 18,733 ton recording more than ten per cent jump during the same period. However, in 2008-09 the total volume of cargo handled by the airport declined by 4.8% from the previous year.
Kolkata airport is connected to the Kolkata Suburban Railway
system, and is also accessible by taxi and low floor Volvo
buses. The proposed Kolkata Metro
route from Noapara to Barasat
will have a station at the airport by the name of Jai Hind
.
The work on this new integrated terminal started in November 2008. The terminal will be an L-shaped structure with two-tiers for arrivals and departures. The 40000 m² (47,839.6 sq yd) of the first phase of modernisation is designed to accommodate a peak flow of 1,800 passengers per hour. Once completed, the total capacity of the airport will increase to 24 million passengers per year. The new terminal building will have 104 check-in counters, 44 immigration counters, 25 security gates, five conveyor belts and 15 aerobridges. It will also have an inline baggage system, making it unnecessary for passengers to scan luggage through x-ray machines before check in. The walls will be decorated with murals depicting the writing of Bengali
poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore
, while the use of natural day lighting will be used without increasing cooling fees. The form of the roof is devised to harvest rainwater for landscape irrigation. Finally, an underground parking for cars is under construction.
The airport will be commissioned for commercial use by March 2012. The existing domestic terminal building will continue to be used with appropriate modifications and façade treatment, whilst the former airport hotel 'Ashok' has been demolished to give way to two new five-star luxury hotels and a shopping mall in its place.
Work on the secondary runway extension, rapid exit taxiways and parking bays are also in progress. The secondary runway has been extended by 400 m (1,312.3 ft) on the northern side. On the southern side, about 1000 ft extension work is under way along with the construction of a new taxiway. The secondary runway is being fitted with CAT-I facilities
for night use. The primary runway is being upgraded from CAT-I to CAT-II ILS facility to help aircraft landing in poor visibility.
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
located in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, serving the greater Kolkata metro area. The airport was originally known as Dum Dum Airport before being renamed in the honour of Subhas Chandra Bose. From April 2006 to March 2011, it was the fifth busiest airport in the country in terms of overall passenger traffic, and ninth busiest in terms of international passenger traffic. It is located approximately 17 km (10.6 mi) from Kolkata's city centre.
The airport is the largest in eastern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and one of only two international airports operating in West Bengal, the other being in Bagdogra
Bagdogra Airport
Bagdogra International Airport or Civil Aerodrome Bagdogra is a military airport that is open for civilian flights. The airport is located in the town of Bagdogra, about from the city of Siliguri in the Darjeeling district in northern West Bengal, India...
. It is a major centre for flights to North-East India
North-East India
Northeast India refers to the easternmost region of India consisting of the contiguous Seven Sister States, Sikkim, and parts of North Bengal...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
.
History
Kolkata airport has a distinguished place in the history of aviation, traditionally serving as a strategic stopover on the air route from Europe to Indochina and Australia. Many pioneering flights passed through the airport, including that of Amelia EarhartAmelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart was a noted American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first woman to receive the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross, awarded for becoming the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean...
in 1937.
The airport was originally an open ground next to the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
Armoury in Dum Dum. In 1924, KLM began scheduled stops at Kolkata, as part of their Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
to Batavia (Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
) flight The same year, a Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
aircraft landed in Kolkata as part of the first round-the-world expedition by any air force.
Sir Stanley Jackson, Governor of Bengal, opened the Bengal Flying Club at Kolkata aerodrome in February 1929. In 1930, the airfield was made fit for use throughout the year, and other airlines began to utilise the airport. Air Orient
Air Orient
-History:Air Orient was an airline based in France. Created in 1929 from the merger of Air Asie and Air Union Lignes d’Orient , the short lived airline was merged with Air France October 7, 1933....
began scheduled stops as part of a Paris to Saigon
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
route, and Imperial Airways
Imperial Airways
Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long range air transport company, operating from 1924 to 1939 and serving parts of Europe but especially the Empire routes to South Africa, India and the Far East...
began flights from London to Australia via Kolkata in 1933. This began a trend that drew many airlines to Kolkata airport.
Kolkata played an important role in the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In 1942, the United States Army Air Force 7th Bombardment Group flew B-24 Liberator
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
bombers from the airport on combat missions over Burma
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
. The airfield was also used as a cargo aerial port throughout the war for supplies and equipment by Air Transport Command
Air Transport Command
Air Transport Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its mission was to meet the urgent demand for the speedy reinforcement of the United States' military bases worldwide during World War II, using an air supply system to supplement surface transport...
, as well as being a communication centre for the Tenth Air Force
Tenth Air Force
The Tenth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Reserve Command . It is headquartered at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas....
.
Passenger services grew after the Second World War. Kolkata became a destination for the world’s first jet-powered passenger aircraft, the de Havilland Comet
De Havilland Comet
The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...
, on a British Overseas Airways Corporation
British Overseas Airways Corporation
The British Overseas Airways Corporation was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 to 1974. The company started life with a merger between Imperial Airways Ltd. and British Airways Ltd...
(BOAC) route to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Furthermore, in 1964 Indian Airlines introduced the first Indian domestic jet service, using Caravelle
Caravelle
Caravelle may be a reference to:* Caravelle, the French marketing name for the typeface Folio* Sud Aviation Caravelle, the short/medium-range jet airliner, produced by Sud Aviation...
jets on the Calcutta - Delhi route. The international terminal was opened in 1970, which saw the introduction of flights from airlines such as Japan Airlines
Japan Airlines
is an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...
, Qantas
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...
, Swiss Air and Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main hub located at Hong Kong International Airport, although the airline's registered office is on the 33rd floor of One Pacific Place...
. However, the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
saw a large increase in both refugees and disease in Kolkata, causing some airlines to cease services to the city. In 1975, the airport opened the first dedicated cargo terminal in India.
The 1990s saw new growth for Kolkata airport, as the Indian aviation industry saw the arrival of new airlines such as Jet Airways
Jet Airways
Jet Airways is a major Indian airline based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is India's largest airline and the market leader in the domestic sector. It operates over 400 flights daily to 76 destinations worldwide. Its main hub is Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, with secondary hubs at Delhi,...
and Air Sahara
Air Sahara
JetLite, formerly Air Sahara, is an airline based in Mumbai, India. owned by Jet Airways, the airline operates scheduled services connecting metropolitan centres in India, it operates 110 flights daily...
. The current domestic terminal was opened in 1995, and the airport was renamed in honour of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. In 2000, a new international arrival hall was opened. Finally, 2005 saw the growth of Low Cost Carriers in the Indian aviation sector, with new airlines including SpiceJet
SpiceJet
SpiceJet is a low-cost airline headquartered in Gurgaon, India. It began service in May 2005 and by 2008, it was India's second-largest low-cost airline in terms of market share. SpiceJet was voted as the best low-cost airline in South Asia and Central Asia region by Skytrax in...
, IndiGo
Indigo
Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...
and Kingfisher Airlines
Kingfisher Airlines
Kingfisher Airlines is an airline group based in India. Its head office is Kingfisher House in Vile Parle , Mumbai. Kingfisher Airlines, through its parent company United Breweries Group, has a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red....
. This led to a dramatic rise in passenger numbers at the airport.
Airport structure
Airport terminal
An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from aircraft....
: a domestic terminal, an international terminal and a cargo terminal. The domestic terminal was extended in 2009 to cater to an increasing demand of passengers. New ticketing counters, check-in kiosks and cafes were added. The airport has four aerobridges, with three in the domestic terminal and one in the international terminal. The current terminals have reached over-capacity, as there has recently been a huge increase in the number of passengers travelling through the airport. It is expected that the airport will handle additional four million passengers every year from 2012, up from the 1.01 million now it handles. Passenger lounges are provided by Air India
Air India
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India. It is part of the government of India owned Air India Limited . The airline operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Its corporate office is located at the Air India Building at Nariman...
, Jet Airways
Jet Airways
Jet Airways is a major Indian airline based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is India's largest airline and the market leader in the domestic sector. It operates over 400 flights daily to 76 destinations worldwide. Its main hub is Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, with secondary hubs at Delhi,...
, and Kingfisher Airlines
Kingfisher Airlines
Kingfisher Airlines is an airline group based in India. Its head office is Kingfisher House in Vile Parle , Mumbai. Kingfisher Airlines, through its parent company United Breweries Group, has a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red....
. Catering facilities are owned by Taj-Sats and Oberoi
Oberoi
Oberoi is a Khatri / clan .-History:Oberoi is a prominent Khatri surname found in India's Punjab state. They are a north Indian community that originated in the Potohar Plateau of Punjab. This region is historically connected with the composition of the Vedas and classics like the Mahabharata and...
Flight Services.
The airport has two parallel runway
Runway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
s 01/19 L/R, of which the longer one, 01R/19L is used for takeoff
Takeoff
Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle goes from the ground to flying in the air.For horizontal takeoff aircraft this usually involves starting with a transition from moving along the ground on a runway. For balloons, helicopters and some specialized fixed-wing aircraft , no...
s and landing
Landing
thumb|A [[Mute Swan]] alighting. Note the ruffled feathers on top of the wings indicate that the swan is flying at the [[Stall |stall]]ing speed...
s, while the other one is used mostly as a taxiway
Taxiway
A taxiway is a path on an airport connecting runways with ramps, hangars, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have hard surface such as asphalt or concrete, although smaller airports sometimes use gravel or grass....
and for aircraft landing during daytime. The expansion of this runway is hampered by a 119-year old mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
that lies 100 feet north of the runway, within the airport property.. Air India
Air India
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India. It is part of the government of India owned Air India Limited . The airline operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft serving Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. Its corporate office is located at the Air India Building at Nariman...
operates hangars at the airport, while Bharat Petroleum
Bharat Petroleum
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited is a state-controlled oil and gas company headquartered in Mumbai, India. In 2011, Fortune Global 500 ranked the company of 272.- History :...
and Indian Oil act as fuellers.
The the Airports Authority of India
Airports Authority of India
The Airports Authority of India is an organization working under the Ministry of Civil Aviation that manages most of the airports in India. The AAI manages and operates 126 airports including 16 international airports, 89 domestic airports and 26 civil enclaves. The corporate headquarters are at...
(AAI) has recently added cargo-handling capacity to the airport, which is sufficient to cater to the demand up to 2015-16. There has been a 25 per cent growth in international cargo movement to and from Kolkata airport and a 15 per cent increase in outward transit. Automobile parts accounted for the bulk of the growth in the movement of cargo from the city to other countries. In November 2008 the first Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC) in West Bengal was opened at the airport. The CPC has an area of 742.5 m² (888 sq yd) and an annual storage capacity of 12,000 million tonnes. The CPC had been undergoing trials that started in June 2008 and was built with a grant-in-aid from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) part of the Commerce Ministry. The volume of export was 21,683 ton in 2008-09, during the current fiscal more than 23,042 ton of cargo were handled by the NSCBI authorities. Similarly the volume of import cargo was increased from 16,863 ton to 18,733 ton recording more than ten per cent jump during the same period. However, in 2008-09 the total volume of cargo handled by the airport declined by 4.8% from the previous year.
Kolkata airport is connected to the Kolkata Suburban Railway
Kolkata Suburban Railway
The Kolkata Suburban Railway is the rail system for the suburbs surrounding the city of Kolkata . Railways such as this are important and heavily-used infrastructure in India....
system, and is also accessible by taxi and low floor Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
buses. The proposed Kolkata Metro
Kolkata Metro
The Kolkata Metro or Calcutta Metro is a mass rapid transit system serving the city of Kolkata and the districts of South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas in Indian state of West Bengal. The network consists of one operational line and five lines currently under construction...
route from Noapara to Barasat
Barasat
Barasat is a city in the outskirts of Kolkata, West Bengal India and is the district head quarter of the district North 24 Parganas. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. The town is an important railway and roadway junction...
will have a station at the airport by the name of Jai Hind
Jai Hind
Jai Hind जय हिंद is a salutation, slogan and battle cry most commonly used in India in speeches and communications pertaining to or referring to patriotism towards India . It translates roughly to "Hail India" or "Victory to India" or "Long live India"...
.
Modernisation
The airport is being provided with a face-lift by the AAI, which is building a fourth terminal for the airport . A Thai-based consortium along with Kolkata-based Sikka Associates have been hired to carry this modernisation task.The work on this new integrated terminal started in November 2008. The terminal will be an L-shaped structure with two-tiers for arrivals and departures. The 40000 m² (47,839.6 sq yd) of the first phase of modernisation is designed to accommodate a peak flow of 1,800 passengers per hour. Once completed, the total capacity of the airport will increase to 24 million passengers per year. The new terminal building will have 104 check-in counters, 44 immigration counters, 25 security gates, five conveyor belts and 15 aerobridges. It will also have an inline baggage system, making it unnecessary for passengers to scan luggage through x-ray machines before check in. The walls will be decorated with murals depicting the writing of Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, while the use of natural day lighting will be used without increasing cooling fees. The form of the roof is devised to harvest rainwater for landscape irrigation. Finally, an underground parking for cars is under construction.
The airport will be commissioned for commercial use by March 2012. The existing domestic terminal building will continue to be used with appropriate modifications and façade treatment, whilst the former airport hotel 'Ashok' has been demolished to give way to two new five-star luxury hotels and a shopping mall in its place.
Work on the secondary runway extension, rapid exit taxiways and parking bays are also in progress. The secondary runway has been extended by 400 m (1,312.3 ft) on the northern side. On the southern side, about 1000 ft extension work is under way along with the construction of a new taxiway. The secondary runway is being fitted with CAT-I facilities
Instrument Landing System
An instrument landing system is a ground-based instrument approach system that provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching and landing on a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high-intensity lighting arrays to enable a safe landing during instrument...
for night use. The primary runway is being upgraded from CAT-I to CAT-II ILS facility to help aircraft landing in poor visibility.
Passenger airlines
Cargo airlines
Accidents and incidents
- 2 May 1953: A BOACBritish Overseas Airways CorporationThe British Overseas Airways Corporation was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 to 1974. The company started life with a merger between Imperial Airways Ltd. and British Airways Ltd...
de Havilland CometDe Havilland CometThe de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...
bound for Delhi crashed after takeoff from Calcutta airport with the loss of 43 lives. Parts of the aircraft were found spread over an area of eight square miles, near Jugalgari, a village some 25 miles north-west of Calcutta, suggesting disintegration before impact with the ground.
- 12 June 1968: a Pan-Am B707-321C approaching Calcutta, during a night visual approach in rain the aircraft first struck a tree 1128m short of the runway then crashed and caught fire. The landing gear was broken off, the fuselage remained largely intact. Of the 10 crew and 53 passengers aboard, 1 crew member and 5 passengers suffered fatal injuries due to the fire.
External links
- Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport at Airports Authority of IndiaAirports Authority of IndiaThe Airports Authority of India is an organization working under the Ministry of Civil Aviation that manages most of the airports in India. The AAI manages and operates 126 airports including 16 international airports, 89 domestic airports and 26 civil enclaves. The corporate headquarters are at...
web site