Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport নেতাজী সুভাষচন্দ্র বসু আন্তর্জাতিক বিমানবন্দর
IATA: CCU – ICAO: VECC CCU Location of airport in West Bengal
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner/Operator		Airports Authority of India
Serves		Kolkata
Location		Kolkata, India
Hub for		Air India Air India Regional Blue Dart Aviation Deccan Aviation DTDS IndiGo Jet Airways JetLite Kingfisher Airlines Northeast Shuttles SpiceJet
Elevation AMSL		5 m / 16 ft
Coordinates		22°39′17″N 088°26′48″E / 22.65472°N 88.44667°E / 22.65472; 88.44667
Website		www.nscbiairport.org/
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
01L/19R	3,220	10,240	Asphalt
01R/19L	3,627	11,900	Asphalt
Statistics (Apr '10 - Mar '11)
Passenger Traffic			9,631,672
Aircraft Movements			94,375

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (Bengali: নেতাজী সুভাষচন্দ্র বসু আন্তর্জাতিক বিমানবন্দর Netaji Shubhashchôndro Boshu Antorjatik Bimanbôndor) (IATA: CCU, ICAO: VECC) is an airport located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, serving the greater Kolkata metro area. The airport was originally known as Dum Dum Airport before being renamed in the honour of Subhas Chandra Bose. From April 2006 to March 2011, it was the fifth busiest airport in the country in terms of overall passenger traffic, and ninth busiest in terms of international passenger traffic. It is located approximately 17 km (11 mi) from Kolkata's city centre.

The airport is the largest in eastern India and one of only two international airports operating in West Bengal, the other being in Bagdogra. It is a major centre for flights to North-East India, Bangladesh and Southeast Asia.

History

Kolkata airport has a distinguished place in the history of aviation, traditionally serving as a strategic stopover on the air route from Europe to Indochina and Australia.^[1] Many pioneering flights passed through the airport, including that of Amelia Earhart in 1937.^[2] The airport was originally an open ground next to the Royal Artillery Armoury in Dum Dum.^[3] In 1924, KLM began scheduled stops at Kolkata, as part of their Amsterdam to Batavia (Jakarta) flight^[4] The same year, a Royal Air Force aircraft landed in Kolkata as part of the first round-the-world expedition by any air force.^[5]

Sir Stanley Jackson, Governor of Bengal, opened the Bengal Flying Club at Kolkata aerodrome in February 1929.^[6] In 1930, the airfield was made fit for use throughout the year,^[7] and other airlines began to utilise the airport. Air Orient began scheduled stops as part of a Paris to Saigon route,^[8] and Imperial Airways began flights from London to Australia via Kolkata in 1933.^[9] This began a trend that drew many airlines to Kolkata airport.

Kolkata played an important role in the Second World War. In 1942, the United States Army Air Force 7th Bombardment Group flew B-24 Liberator bombers from the airport on combat missions over Burma. The airfield was also used as a cargo aerial port throughout the war for supplies and equipment by Air Transport Command, as well as being a communication centre for the Tenth Air Force.^[10]

Passenger services grew after the Second World War. Kolkata became a destination for the world’s first jet-powered passenger aircraft, the de Havilland Comet, on a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) route to London. Furthermore, in 1964 Indian Airlines introduced the first Indian domestic jet service, using Caravelle jets on the Calcutta - Delhi route. The international terminal was opened in 1970, which saw the introduction of flights from airlines such as Japan Airlines, Qantas, Swiss Air and Cathay Pacific.^[11] However, the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War saw a large increase in both refugees and disease in Kolkata, causing some airlines to cease services to the city. In 1975, the airport opened the first dedicated cargo terminal in India.^[12]

The 1990s saw new growth for Kolkata airport, as the Indian aviation industry saw the arrival of new airlines such as Jet Airways and Air Sahara. The current domestic terminal was opened in 1995, and the airport was renamed in honour of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.^[13] In 2000, a new international arrival hall was opened. Finally, 2005 saw the growth of Low Cost Carriers in the Indian aviation sector, with new airlines including SpiceJet, IndiGo and Kingfisher Airlines. This led to a dramatic rise in passenger numbers at the airport.

Airport structure

The airport tarmac

The airport has three terminals: a domestic terminal, an international terminal and a cargo terminal. The domestic terminal was extended in 2009 to cater to an increasing demand of passengers. New ticketing counters, check-in kiosks and cafes were added. The airport has four aerobridges, with three in the domestic terminal and one in the international terminal. The current terminals have reached over-capacity, as there has recently been a huge increase in the number of passengers travelling through the airport. It is expected that the airport will handle additional four million passengers every year from 2012, up from the 1.01 million now it handles.^[14] Passenger lounges are provided by Air India, Jet Airways, and Kingfisher Airlines. Catering facilities are owned by Taj-Sats and Oberoi Flight Services.

The airport has two parallel runways 01/19 L/R, of which the longer one, 01R/19L is used for takeoffs and landings, while the other one is used mostly as a taxiway and for aircraft landing during daytime. The expansion of this runway is hampered by a 119-year old mosque that lies 100 feet north of the runway, within the airport property.^[15]. Air India operates hangars at the airport, while Bharat Petroleum and Indian Oil act as fuellers.

The the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has recently added cargo-handling capacity to the airport, which is sufficient to cater to the demand up to 2015-16. There has been a 25 per cent growth in international cargo movement to and from Kolkata airport and a 15 per cent increase in outward transit. Automobile parts accounted for the bulk of the growth in the movement of cargo from the city to other countries. In November 2008 the first Centre for Perishable Cargo (CPC) in West Bengal was opened at the airport. The CPC has an area of 742.5 m² (7,992 sq ft) and an annual storage capacity of 12,000 million tonnes. The CPC had been undergoing trials that started in June 2008 and was built with a 6.75 crore (US$1.37 million) grant-in-aid from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) part of the Commerce Ministry.^[16] The volume of export was 21,683 ton in 2008-09, during the current fiscal more than 23,042 ton of cargo were handled by the NSCBI authorities. Similarly the volume of import cargo was increased from 16,863 ton to 18,733 ton recording more than ten per cent jump during the same period. However, in 2008-09 the total volume of cargo handled by the airport declined by 4.8% from the previous year.

Kolkata airport is connected to the Kolkata Suburban Railway system, and is also accessible by taxi and low floor Volvo buses. The proposed Kolkata Metro route from Noapara to Barasat will have a station at the airport by the name of Jai Hind. ^[17]

Modernisation

The airport is being provided with a face-lift by the AAI, which is building a fourth terminal for the airport . A Thai-based consortium along with Kolkata-based Sikka Associates have been hired to carry this modernisation task.

The work on this new integrated terminal started in November 2008. The terminal will be an L-shaped structure with two-tiers for arrivals and departures. The 40,000 m² (430,000 sq ft) of the first phase of modernisation is designed to accommodate a peak flow of 1,800 passengers per hour. Once completed, the total capacity of the airport will increase to 24 million passengers per year. The new terminal building will have 104 check-in counters, 44 immigration counters, 25 security gates, five conveyor belts and 15 aerobridges. It will also have an inline baggage system, making it unnecessary for passengers to scan luggage through x-ray machines before check in. The walls will be decorated with murals depicting the writing of Bengali poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, while the use of natural day lighting will be used without increasing cooling fees. The form of the roof is devised to harvest rainwater for landscape irrigation. Finally, an underground parking for cars is under construction.^[18]

The airport will be commissioned for commercial use by March 2012^[19]. The existing domestic terminal building will continue to be used with appropriate modifications and façade treatment, whilst the former airport hotel 'Ashok' has been demolished to give way to two new five-star luxury hotels and a shopping mall in its place.

Work on the secondary runway extension, rapid exit taxiways and parking bays are also in progress. The secondary runway has been extended by 400 m (1,300 ft) on the northern side. On the southern side, about 1000 ft extension work is under way along with the construction of a new taxiway. The secondary runway is being fitted with CAT-I facilities for night use. The primary runway is being upgraded from CAT-I to CAT-II ILS facility to help aircraft landing in poor visibility.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger airlines

An Indian A320 at the domestic terminal

Airlines	Destinations	Terminal
Air India	Agartala, Aizawl, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Guwahati, Imphal, Kanpur, Mumbai, Port Blair, Silchar	Domestic
Air India	Gaya, Kathmandu, Yangon	International
Air India Express	Dhaka, Singapore	International
Air India Regional	Agartala, Aizawl, Dimapur, Guwahati, Imphal, Jorhat, Lilabari, Nagpur, Shillong, Silchar, Tezpur	Domestic
AirAsia	Kuala Lumpur	International
Biman Bangladesh Airlines	Dhaka	International
China Eastern Airlines	Kunming	International
Druk Air	Paro	International
Emirates	Dubai	International
GMG Airlines	Chittagong, Dhaka	International
GoAir	Delhi, Port Blair[20]	Domestic
IndiGo	Agartala, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara	Domestic
Jet Airways	Agartala, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dimapur, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jorhat, Kochi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Varanasi, Visakhapatnam	Domestic
Jet Airways	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Dhaka	International
JetLite	Agartala, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Imphal, Jorhat, Mumbai, Port Blair	Domestic
Kingfisher Airlines	Agartala, Aizawl, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Indore, Mumbai, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Silchar	Domestic
Kingfisher Airlines	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Dhaka	International
Lufthansa	Frankfurt	International
Qatar Airways	Doha	International
Silk Air	Singapore	International
Singapore Airlines	Singapore	International
SpiceJet	Agartala, Ahmedabad, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune	Domestic
Thai AirAsia	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi	International
Thai Airways International	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi	International
United Airways	Dhaka	International

Cargo airlines

Airlines	Destinations
Air India Cargo	Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Goa, Kochi, Kozhikode, Lucknow
Blue Dart Aviation	All Major Indian Cities
Deccan 360	All Major Indian Cities
Etihad Crystal Cargo	Abu Dhabi
Kingfisher Xpress	Ahmedabad
Lufthansa Cargo	Frankfurt, Shenzhen
Qatar Airways Cargo	Doha, Dhaka
Singapore Airlines Cargo	Singapore

Accidents and incidents

• 2nd May 1953: A B.O.A.C. de Havilland Comet bound for Delhi crashed after takeoff from Calcutta airport with the loss of 43 lives. Parts of the aircraft were found spread over an area of eight square miles, near Jugalgari, a village some 25 miles north-west of Calcutta, suggesting disintegration before impact with the ground.^[21]

• 12th June 1968: a Pan-Am B707-321C approaching Calcutta, during a night visual approach in rain the aircraft first struck a tree 1128m short of the runway then crashed and caught fire. The landing gear was broken off, the fuselage remained largely intact. Of the 10 crew and 53 passengers aboard, 1 crew member and 5 passengers suffered fatal injuries due to the fire.^[22]

Picture gallery

• 

  A kerbside view of NSCBI Airport International Terminal

• 

  The boarding area of NSCBI Airport International Terminal

• 

  Boarding Gate 1 at International Terminal, NSCBI Airport

• 

  Airside of International Terminal, NSCBI Airport

• 

  Domestic gate one

• 

  The entry to the domestic terminal

See also

	Kolkata portal
	Aviation portal
	World War II portal

• List of airports in West Bengal

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

1. ^ Airports Authority of India - NSCBI Airport History
2. ^ "Amelia Earhart's Circumnavigation Attempt". http://www.tripline.net. http://www.tripline.net/trip/Amelia_Earhart%27s_Circumnavigation_Attempt-6410741502631003B225FC83C9742523. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
3. ^ "Air Routes in India". Flight Global. 15 April 1920. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1920/1920%20-%200415.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
4. ^ "Amsterdam- Batavia Flight". Flight Global. 20 November 1924. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1924/1924%20-%200735.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
5. ^ "Amsterdam- Round-The-World Flights". Flight Global. 22 May 1924. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1924/1924%20-%200288.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
6. ^ "Bengal Flying Club Opened". Flight Global. 7 March 1929. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929%20-%200480.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
7. ^ "State of Air Transport in the British Empire". Flight Global. 29 August 1930. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1930/untitled0%20-%201033.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
8. ^ "1930 Histoire d'Air Orient.". 1930 Histoire d'Air Orient. http://gap.air.orient.pagesperso-orange.fr/Air%20Orient%20historique.htm. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
9. ^ "Global Networks Before Globalisation: Imperial Airways and the Development of Long-Haul Air Route". Globalization and World Cities Research Network. 5 December 2007. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929-1%20-%200670.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
10. ^ Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
11. ^ Airports Authority of India - NSCBI Airport History
12. ^ Airports Authority of India - NSCBI Airport History
13. ^ Airports Authority of India - NSCBI Airport History
14. ^ (http://www.newkerala.com/news/fullnews-80564.html
15. ^ Mouparna Bandyopadhyay (2008-06-01). "An expressindia article regarding the mosque built within the airport complex". Expressindia.com. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Kolkata-airport-Map-redrawn-land-to-be-acquired-highrises-trimmed-to-save-mosque/317195/. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
16. ^ A Freshnews article about the Perishable Cargo centre^{[dead link]}
17. ^ The Telegraph, "Rail set to take over East-West"
18. ^ "An article about the new airport, containing images". Groups.google.com. 2007-08-13. http://groups.google.com/group/theindiastreet/web/new-kolkata-international-airport-pictures. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
19. ^ "Other States / West Bengal News : New Kolkata airport terminal to be ready by year-end". The Hindu. 2011-01-13. http://www.hindu.com/2011/01/13/stories/2011011360850300.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
20. ^ "More flights to touch down in cityNE Shuttles lands, DTDS, Go Air hovers - Times Of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 2011-09-06. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/More-flights-to-touch-down-in-cityNE-Shuttles-lands-DTDS-Go-Air-hovers/articleshow/9879101.cms. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 
21. ^ "Loss of a Comet". Flight Global. 8 May 1953. http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1953/1953%20-%200594.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
22. ^ "CAA Paper 2002". Civil Aviation Authority. http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAPAP2002_4.PDF. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 

External links

• Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport at Airports Authority of India web site
• Airport information for VECC at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
• Accident history for CCU at Aviation Safety Network