Vir Savarkar Airport
Encyclopedia
Veer Savarkar International Airport, commonly known as Port Blair Airport , is an airport
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 2 km (1.2 mi) south of Port Blair
Port Blair
Port Blair is the largest town and a municipal council in Andaman district in the Andaman Islands and the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India...

 and is the main airport of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of 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...

. It is named after the Indian freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
Vināyak Dāmodar Sāvarkar was an Indian freedom fighter, revolutionary and politician. He was the proponent of liberty as the ultimate ideal. Savarkar was a poet, writer and playwright...

.

Overview

The airport has a single 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...

 of 3290 m (10,794 ft) in length, accommodating most wide-body aircraft
Wide-body aircraft
A wide-body aircraft is a large airliner with two passenger aisles, also known as a widebody aircraft or twin-aisle aircraft. The typical fuselage diameter is . In the typical wide-body economy cabin, passengers are seated seven to ten abreast, allowing a total capacity of 200 to 850 passengers...

, although the most recent reports indicate no airliners larger than Airbus 320 types regularly serve Vir Savakar airport. An ILS (precision instrument landing system
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...

) is available for low visibility operations, but pilots are responsible to check with local authorities to verify the system is operational, prior to flight. There is a road that crosses the runway; traffic must be stopped for aircraft to take off, similar to the Gibraltar Airport
Gibraltar Airport
Gibraltar Airport or North Front Airport is the civilian airport that serves the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence for use by the Royal Air Force as RAF Gibraltar. Civilian operators use the airport; currently the only scheduled flights operate to the...

.

With such a small terminal
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....

 and the isolation of the islands, flights that serve the airport are few and expensive. Restricted Area Permits for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are available on entry.

There is only one terminal with 2 gates and no aero bridges. Buses are used to provide transportation from the terminal to the flights in the apron. As of April 2009, construction work to add a second airplane parking bay is in progress.

Heavy rain flooded the airport during May 2008 and halted traffic.

Airlines and destinations

External links

  • Vir Savarkar Airport (official 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...

    web site)
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