Agatti Airport is a regional airport serving

Agatti Island Agatti Island is a 7.6 km long island, situated on a coral atoll called Agatti atoll in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India. It is west of the city of Kochi. Geography Agatti is located about 364 km off Kannur, 394 km off ...

, in the union territory of

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast. The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Lac ...

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 ...

. It is located at the southern end of the island, and is the sole airstrip in the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

, which lies off the west coast of mainland India.

History

The airstrip was constructed during 1987−88 for operation of

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...

type of aircraft and was inaugurated on 16 April 1988. Initially, the terminal was housed in a small temporary structure. Construction of Terminal Building, Air Traffic Control Tower and related structures commenced in 2006. However, the construction of the Terminal Building was stopped midway due to the proposed extension of Runway & Basic strip. Air India Regional began services with

ATR-42 The ATR 42 is a regional airliner produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR, with final assembly in Toulouse, France. On 4 November 1981, the aircraft was launched with ATR, as a joint venture between French Aérospatiale (now Airbus) and ...

aircraft on 24 September 2010 connecting Agatti with Kochi. The resurfacing of the runway was completed in November 2010. Alliance Air now operates ATR-72-600 aircraft on Bangalore-Cochin-Agatti sector

Structure

Agatti airport is spread over . It has one asphalt runway, oriented 04/22, 1204 metres long and 30 metres wide, while its terminal building can handle 50 passengers during peak hours. Navigational aids include a DME and NDB. It is operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Expansion plans

In 2013, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) received environmental clearance to extend the runway by constructing a 1,500-feet-long bridge on stilts over the sea. The extension is to be built at a cost of Rs 3 billion and will allow aircraft like the

ATR-72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, Flight length, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by Aerospace manufacturer, aircraft manufacturer ATR (aircraft manufacturer), ATR (french: Avions de transport région ...

to be operated without any payload restrictions. AAI originally planned to construct a bridge between Agatti and the neighbouring uninhabited Kalpati Island to make the runway long enough to handle an

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

. However, this plan was rejected on environmental grounds as the bridge would have gone through a turtle colony and Kalpati island would need to be leveled to accommodate the extended runway. As per the revised master plan, the following works will be undertaken: * The existing runway will be extended by 336 metres in the south-west direction over the lagoon towards Kalpati Island without interconnecting the two islands. * Construction of new Terminal building, ATC tower cum Technical block & Fire Station in the north-west direction by constructing a platform supported by R.C.C pillars on the lagoon. * A fully air-conditioned Terminal building covering 2250 square metres to cater for 150 passengers at a time (75 arriving and 75 departing). * The existing Control Tower cum fire station and existing Terminal building that falls inside of the proposed basic strip will be demolished. * A new 118×62-metre

apron An apron is a garment that is worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body. The word comes from old French ''napron'' meaning a small piece of cloth, however over time "a napron" became "an apron", through a linguistics process cal ...

suitable for parking two ATR-72 aircraft with power-in and power-out configuration will be constructed on a platform supported by RCC pillars in the lagoon. * Runway End Safety Area (RESA) measuring 60×90 metres and a Blast Pad/Overrun area measuring 60×30 metres. * 73-metre long taxiway from the Runway to the Apron. * Parking area for 75 cars about . * Proposed

DVOR Very high frequency omnirange station (VOR) is a type of short-range radio navigation system for aircraft, enabling aircraft with a receiving unit to determine its position and stay on course by receiving radio signals transmitted by a network ...

and NDB navigational aids will be placed on Kalpati island.

Airlines and destinations

References

External links

Agatti Airport
at the Airports Authority of India {{Airports in India Airports in Lakshadweep Airports established in 1988 1988 establishments in Lakshadweep