Kota Airport

Kota Airport
IATA: KTU ICAO: VIKO
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Airports Authority of India
Serves	Kota
Location	Kota, India
Elevation AMSL	273 m / 896 ft
Coordinates	25°09′36.39″N 075°50′44.27″E
Map
KTU Location of the airport in Rajasthan Show map of Rajasthan KTU KTU (India) Show map of India
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 08/26 1,200 4,000 Asphalt

Kota Airport (IATA: KTU, ICAO: VIKO) is a domestic airport in Kota in the state of Rajasthan, India.

History

Spread over 152 acres, Kota Airport was originally built by the royal family of the princely state of Kota and was taken over by the government in 1951. This Airport Also Known As Rajputana Airport. Originally serviced by Indian Airlines Dakota aircraft and later by Vayudoot and Jagson Airlines, shutdown of major industries and Kota becoming a major railway junction effected decreased demand for air transport and the withdrawal of the airlines.^[1]

Current status

Since 1997, there have been no scheduled operations at this airport,^[2] though there has been talk of Air India starting flights to Mumbai and Delhi.^[3] The last airline to fly to Kota was Vayudoot. In 2005, it was reported that Airports Authority of India, which maintains the airport spends Rs. 6.3 million annually on maintenance, whereas the income is Rs. 600,000, while six acres of the airports property has been encroached upon by slums.^[1]

Development of Greenfield airport at Kota

The representative of Rajasthan Government intimated that runway length of Existing Kota Airport is only 4000 feet, which restricts flight operations under the UDAN Regional Connectivity Scheme. Hence, a new Greenfield Airport is to be constructed in Kota. State Government has earmarked required land for this purpose. State Government has provided Meteorological Information of past 10 years and AAI has carried out pre-feasibility survey & provided its report to the State Government. 1250 Acres of land has to be acquired by the State Government and handed over to AAI for development of New Greenfield Airport. A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding was signed in July 2024 between the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the Urban Development Department, and the Civil Aviation Department of Rajasthan Government for the development of the greenfield airport.^[4]

References

1. "Indian Air Farce". The Indian Express. 16 January 2005. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
2. "Airports fail to lure airlines". The Times of India. 9 October 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
3. "Coaching classes may spur flights to Kota". The Times of India. 8 May 2008. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
4. "Tripartite MoU signed for Kota Greenfield airport's development". The Statesman. 19 July 2024. Retrieved 20 July 2024.

External links