About Aurangabad Airport

Aurangabad Airport (IATA: IXU, ICAO: VAAU) is a public airport located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. The opening ceremony took place on 21 November 2008 before Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.

The maiden flight was to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), carrying pilgrims for Hajj. National air carrier Air India launched its direct flight to Jeddah for Hajj, using an Airbus 310 with 200 hajis aboard from the newly constructed terminal in Aurangabad.

With this, Aurangabad became the 17th airport in the country from which Hajj flights depart. The airport opened to regular traffic on 3 March 2009. A Jet Airways Mumbai-Aurangabad flight landed at 8:05 am, the first scheduled flight to use Aurangabad Airport’s new terminal. As part of the overall development (and to facilitate tourist traffic) it was decided to upgrade the facilities at Aurangabad Airport in phases, costing around 1.30 billion.

The first phase included extending and reinforcing the runway, a new taxiway, construction of a boundary wall and other improvements; this was completed in 2005. The second phase included a new integrated terminal building and technical complex to handle domestic and international air traffic. The cost was 996.7 million, of which the JBIC contributed 6 million and Airports Authority of India (AAI) contributed the remainder.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel laid the foundation of the second phase in January 2007, promising it would be completed within a year; the airport opened in November 2008. One of the most daunting problems faced by airport management at Aurangabad Airport was that of parking space for the aircraft, since the old apron could only accommodate one wide-bodied aircraft; this hampered regular flights out of the airport and prevented its use by foreign chartered flights.

In the second phase a new apron (measuring 500 by 400 ft) was built, accommodating up to four wide-bodied Airbus aircraft. The old apron will continue to accommodate one Airbus and one ATR aircraft. Parking for five to six aircraft is now available, enabling chartered flights and increasing international tourist traffic.
Improvements

First phase

 • Runway extension (from 7,500 ft to 9,300 ft); apron and runway lighting
 • Instrument landing system (ILS) installation
 • Fence and water-bypass installation
 • Installation of air-conditioning and luggage conveyor in departure area
 • Approach lights and power-plant installation
 • Doppler VHF (very high frequency) omni-range (DVOR) radar installation
 • DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) installation
 • Emergency runway and shoulder maintenance

Second phase

 • Integrated two-story, glass-and-steel terminal building (with four entry & exit points)
 • A 30m-high technical complex (with a floor area of 620m²), covering a total of over 20,500m²
 • 400-car parking lot
 • Two aero-bridges to facilitate passenger flow
 • New fire station

In addition to charter flights, seven planes daily serve Indian cities from Aurangabad Airport. It is used by 700 passengers daily, and the terminal has a capacity of 700.

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