Moradabad Airport is a domestic airport in the city of

Moradabad Moradabad () is a city, commissionary and municipal corporation in Moradabad district of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Moradabad is situated on the banks of the Ramganga river, at a distance of from the national capital, New Delhi and 344 ...

, situated midway between

and Rampur on

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Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

(UP). Being from the

Moradabad Railway Station Moradabad railway station is located in Moradabad district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and serves Moradabad which is namesake for its brassware industries. Moradabad is major railway station of Western Uttar Pradesh and located just fr ...

and 15 kms from the

Rampur Railway Station Rampur Junction railway station (station code RMU) is located in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. History After connecting Varanasi with Lucknow, the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway started working west of Lucknow. Construction of ...

, it's strategically located to serve both districts. It has been developed by upgrading the existing government airstrip. Owned and operated by the

Airports Authority of India The Airports Authority of India, or AAI, is a public sector enterprise under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civil aviation infrastruct ...

(AAI), it's one of the five key airports in Western UP region besides Hindon,

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

Bareilly Bareilly () is a city in Bareilly district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is among the largest metropolises in Western Uttar Pradesh and is the centre of the Bareilly division as well as the historical region of Rohilkhand. The city ...

and

Aligarh Aligarh (; formerly known as Allygarh, and Kol) is a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh district, and lies northwest of state capital Lucknow and approximately southeast of the capita ...

. At , it's also the 4th largest airport in the region by land area. It has a peak capacity of 100 passengers per day, and is capable of serving up to 100,000 passengers every year. In future its capacity is planned to be increased up to 1 million passengers per year. As of March 2024, it has been inaugurated but flight operations are yet to commence from it. There's also no reliable information regarding the possible date of its operationalization, as a flight schedule has not been officially announced for the airport.

History

The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) asked the State Government in November 2012 to hand over the airfield in Moradabad along with an additional of land, free of cost, to the AAI in order to upgrade the airfield for commercial operations. The AAI had proposed to develop a taxi track, an apron, isolation bay, navigational aids, localiser, glide path, terminal building, Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower and hangars. The Uttar Pradesh cabinet approved to hand over the airstrip to AAI in September 2013. The

Government of Uttar Pradesh The Government of Uttar Pradesh (ISO: Uttar Pradesh Sarkār; often abbreviated as GoUP) is the subnational government of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with the governor as its appointed constitutional head of the state by the President of I ...

then signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the

(AAI) in February 2014 for the development of this airstrip into a domestic airport. Construction of the airport began in 2015, and it was completed along with an upgraded runway, a taxi track, the approach road, and the passenger terminal in June 2022. The contract was earlier awarded to

RITES Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited, abbreviated as RITES Ltd, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India. It is an engineering consultancy corporation, specializing in the field ...

, but was cancelled and awarded to the Uttar Pradesh State Construction Corporation. The airport was constructed on of land at a cost of ₹28.93 crores.

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

, and UP Forest Department granted No Objection Certificate (NOC) to the airport in February 2023, and the license from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was granted in November 2023. The completed airport was inaugurated on March 10, 2024 by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath Yogi Adityanath (born on 5 June 1972 as Ajay Singh Bisht),

in a virtual inauguration ceremony along with 4 other airports. Other airports inaugurated during the ceremony included

Azamgarh Azamgarh is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of Azamgarh division, which consists of Ballia, Mau and Azamgarh districts. Azamgarh is situated on the bank of Tamsa River (Tons). It is located east of the st ...

, Chitrakoot, and Shrawasti airports. This increased the number of operational airports in Uttar Pradesh from 10 to 14, making it the state with most operational airports in the country.

Terminals

The terminal building of the airport spans an area of . It features: * 4 check-in counters * Arrival and departure gates * Sitting capacity for 50 passengers * 2 baggage inspection (XBIS) machines * 2 parking ways It's set to be expanded or replaced by a larger terminal in the future development plans of the airport. File:Arrival gate of Moradabad Airport.png File:Side view of Moradabad Airport Terminal Building.png File:Moradabad Airport Terminal During Inauguration.png

Airlines and destinations

As of March 2024, the airport is yet to commence operations. First flight is scheduled for Lucknow's

Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport is an international airport serving Lucknow, the capital of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located in the Amausi area of the city 14 km far from the city centre, and was earlier also ...

on a 19-seater aircraft from Flybig Airlines, though a date has not been announced yet. A second flight is planned for

Kanpur Airport Kanpur Airport (), proposed to be renamed as Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Airport, is a domestic airport and an Indian Air Force Base that serves the city of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. It provides easier connectivity to major tourist and hist ...

sometime in May 2024.

Future

The AAI plans to expand the Moradabad Airport in two phases, and it has asked for of land to be provided free of cost for this expansion from the UP Government. In the first phase, a new terminal building with area of 10,000 square meters is planned, which will increase the peak capacity of airport to 500 passengers per day and 10,00,000 passengers per year. The runway is planned to be expanded to from the current to facilitate the landing of Code-C aircraft. Other planned expansions during this phase include: * Two taxiways * Apron and ground support equipment for parking of four A-321 aircraft * New ATS tower * Fire station * A larger car parking space In the second phase, the airport is planned to be further expanded with a terminal building of up to 20,000 square meters. During peak hours, it will be able to handle up to 1,600 passengers per day and up to 25,00,000 passengers per year.

References

Airports in Uttar Pradesh Moradabad {{India-airport-stub