Sri Sathya Sai Airport is located at

Puttaparthi Puttaparthi (IAST: ''Puṭṭaparthy'') is a municipality and district headquarters of Sri Sathya Sai district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Puttaparthi mandal of Puttaparthi revenue division. The original name of Put ...

in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The airport is named after

Sathya Sai Baba Sathya Sai Baba (born Ratnakaram Sathyanarayana Raju; 23 November 192624 April 2011) was an Indian guru. At the age of fourteen he claimed that he was the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai Baba, and left his home to serve his devotees. Sai Baba's b ...

, a spiritual guru and philanthropist. It is a small airport with facilities for chartered flights rather than commercial aircraft. The airport was inaugurated in 1990 to serve the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences during emergency situations. The airport's 1000-metre-long airstrip and terminal building were constructed by L&T ECC. The runway was later extended to enable the operation of larger jet aircraft.

History

The Sri Sathya Sai Airport was opened on 24 November 1990 to provide emergency air service to the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, as well as commercial service for visitors to

Prasanthi Nilayam Prasanthi Nilayam (, 800 meters (2624 feet) above sea level) is the main ashram of Sathya Sai Baba located in the town of Puttaparthi in, Sri Sathya Sai district Andhra Pradesh, India. Sathya Sai Baba was born in Puttaparthi. "Prasanthi N ...

, Sathya Sai Baba's ashram located in the village. Until 2006, the Sri Sathya Sai Airport had scheduled flights to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and to

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

airport operated by

Indian Airlines Indian Airlines was a division of Air India Limited. It was based in Delhi and focused primarily on domestic routes, along with several international services to neighbouring countries in Asia. It was a division of Air India Limited after mer ...

. From 2006 to 2008, Indian Airlines operated flights to Puttaparthi as a stopover for their Hyderabad-Vishakhapatnam services. Indian Airlines also offered flights to Bangalore thrice a week in 2005. On 12 November 2005, the Indian low-cost carrier

Air Deccan Air Deccan is an Indian regional airline currently operating from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It flies to a total of four destinations using Beech 1900D aircraft, as of November 2019. As of October 2021, the airline has temporarily suspended operatio ...

commenced operations from and to Hyderabad and Chennai twice a day. Delhi-based charter airline Jagson Airlines also began service to Puttaparthi from Chennai in 2007, before they ceased in 2008. After Air Deccan's integration with Kingfisher Airlines, the latter continued service to Puttaparthi from Bangalore and as a stopover on their Hyderabad-Vishakhapatnam services until 2008, when all scheduled flights to Puttaparthi ceased. The airport continues to serve the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi for emergency purposes, and hosts dignitaries who visit the town.

References

External links

Airports in Andhra Pradesh Buildings and structures in Anantapur district Puttaparthi Transport in Anantapur district 1990 establishments in Andhra Pradesh Airports established in 1990 {{Anantapur-geo-stub