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President Ram Nath Kovind today inaugurated the newly-built airport at Shirdi in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district.
Airport sources said the president’s aircraft touched down from New Delhi at the Shirdi airport at 10.30 am. Kovind dedicated the Shirdi airport to the people.
Commercial flight operations are scheduled to commence with a flight to Mumbai being operated by Alliance Air, the sources said. The airport secured the aerodrome licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for commercial operations last month.
According to an estimate, about 60,000 pilgrims visit Shirdi everyday, out of which the airport authorities plan to tap at least 10-12 per cent.
The aerodrome is owned and developed by Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to develop airports in the State.
Constructed at an investment of around ₹350 crore, including ₹50 crore from the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, the airport, with a 2,500 m-long runway, is capable of handling single narrow-body aircraft, such as Airbus A320 and Boeing 737s.
Once the new airport operations start, the travel time to Shirdi from Mumbai is expected to reduce to 40 minutes as against five hours by road at present.
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