Veer Savarkar International Airport is an international airport located south of

Port Blair Port Blair () is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South An ...

and is the main airport of the

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...

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 ...

. Originally known as "Port Blair Airport", it was renamed in 2002 after

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (), Marathi pronunciation: �inaːjək saːʋəɾkəɾ also commonly known as Veer Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966), was an Indian politician, activist, and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationali ...

, who had been detained in the

Cellular Jail The Cellular Jail, also known as Kālā Pānī (), was a British colonial prison in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The prison was used by the colonial government of India for the purpose of exiling criminals and political prisoners. Many ...

in the city for 10 years. It operates as a

civil enclave A joint-use airport is an aerodrome that is used for both military aviation and civil aviation. They typically contain facilities of both a civil airport and a military air base. By country United States The United States has several joint-use ...

, sharing airside facilities with INS Utkrosh of the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

Overview

The airport has a single

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

of in length, accommodating most

narrow-body aircraft A narrow-body aircraft or single-aisle aircraft is an airliner arranged along a single aisle, permitting up to 6-abreast seating in a cabin less than in width. In contrast, a wide-body aircraft is a larger airliner usually configured with m ...

, that includes

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 ...

, Airbus A321, and

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 ...

. Except for the civilian terminal operated by the Airports Authority of India, all other air traffic operations over Port Blair are undertaken by the Indian Navy.

Terminal

The passenger terminal has a capacity of 400 passengers. It covers an area of 6,100 square metres. There is only one terminal, with two gates and no aerobridges. Buses are used to provide transportation from the terminal to the aircraft parked on the apron. ;New terminal Due to increasing traffic, a new 40,837 sq.m. passenger terminal at a cost of ₹ 707 crore is under construction since 2019. It will have three floors–one for arrivals, second for departures and third for waiting. Inside the terminal, there will be 28 check-in counters and four conveyor belts. Initially, it was planned that it will have three aerobridges, but recently, it has increased to four. It will be able to handle 1,200 passengers (600 domestic and 600 international) at peak hours, and will be able to serve 5 million passengers per annum. As of 2022, the new terminal is under construction, and it is about 83% completed. It is expected to be completed by October 2022.

Airlines and destinations

200px, left, IndiGo A320neo

Statistics

References

External links

7
Vir Savarkar Airport
(official Airports Authority of India web site) {{Indian Air Force Airports in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Port Blair Memorials to Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Airports with year of establishment missing