Kanpur Airport

Kanpur Airport कानपुर हवाई अड्डा کان پور ہوائی اڈا Chakeri Air Force Station
IATA: KNU – ICAO: VICX
Summary
Airport type	Partially Public
Owner	Indian Air Force
Operator	Airports Authority of India
Serves	Kanpur, Unnao, Etawah, Kanpur Dehat, Hamirpur & Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh
Location	Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Elevation AMSL	410 ft / 124 m
Coordinates	26°24′10″N 80°24′44″E / 26.40278°N 80.41222°E
Map
Kanpur Airport Location of airport in India
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 09/27 (common use) 9,000 2,743 Concrete/Asphalt 01/19 (not for civil use) 4,105 1,251 Concrete/Asphalt

Kanpur Airport (IATA: KNU, ICAO: VIKA) aka Chakeri Air Force Station is an airport that was originally designated for the Indian Air Force. In the 1970s, flights operated from this airport regularly to Delhi, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Mumbai. However passengers of Kanpur and surrounding developing cities have to travel 80 kilometers and burn unnecessary fuel and take extra time in order to get to CCS International Amausi Airport in Lucknow, for taking a flight to other Indian cities or overseas. The successive Union and State governments have chosen to ignore the problems being faced by the people of Kanpur and surrounding cities. The Civil Air Terminal of Kanpur Airport was re-opened in December 2004 and since then flights have been operational on this airport off and on. Currently, there are no flights from this airport.

New terminal & connectivity

Anticipating growth in passenger traffic, the Airports Authority of India is planning to expand the Chakeri Civil Enclave. The airport would be developed in two phases. In the first phase of development includes expansion of the existing terminal building to increase the passenger handling capacity, construction of a visitors lounge and new car parking facilities. The existing apron will also be extended to accommodate two Airbus A321 type of aircraft, for which, the Ministry of civil Aviation has sought Air Headquarter's permission for expansion of the apron on IAF land for joint use.

In the second phase, A new civil air terminal at Chakeri Airport will be built on a 50-acre piece of land adjacent to the airport boundary. The state government has been requested to hand over 50 acres of land identified by AAI free of cost for the development of civil enclave at Chakeri airport and also provide a 4-lane approach road the proposed site. The Airports Authority of India has identified the land for the purpose and on 4 July 2012, a senior official of the civil aviation ministry carried out an inspection of the Civil airport in Chakeri.^[1]

When the Delhi-Kanpur-Kolkata flights were launched, Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi had promised that Kanpur would be connected with other metro cities.^[2]

UP Govt has cleared 50 acres of land for expansion of Kanpur airport and a new terminal building.^[3]

UP Govt signed a MOU with Airports Authority of India (AAI) for development of civil enclave at Kanpur Airport.^[4]

Incidents and accidents

• On Wednesday, 20 July 2011, Air India Regional flight 9801, upon landing, did not stop within the safe distance and overshot into the slush at the end of the runway. As per reports, the aircraft had a rough landing even though the weather was clear with a visibility of 2000 meters. The 70 Seater CRJ-700 was headed from Delhi to Kolkata via Kanpur with 59 passengers on board.

Author Chetan Bhagat, who was on the flight, tweeted, "Emergency landing as plane skidded off runway into wet mud. Lucky save. Evacuations on now." Mr Bhagat also said, "The plane wheels are barely visible, dug deep into mud. Everyone's out now. Rattled but safe."

• On Saturday 18 May 1996, at 0738 hrs. an Archana Airways aircraft Let L-410 Turbolet model UVP-E9D carrying 16 passengers and 3 flight crew, touched down late during landing at Kanpur Airport, and could not be stopped within the available runway length and went beyond the runway. The aircraft hit the boundary wall of the airport and came to halt. The aircraft sustained major damages. There was no fire and no injury to persons on board the aircraft. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

International airport proposal

An international airport was proposed in 2011 to be constructed at Jainpur in Kanpur Dehat district about 50 km from Kanpur.^[5] The airport was to service local exporters and the public. The state government scrapped the airport project in 2013 following its decision to provide 50 acres of land to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to develop a civil enclave at Chakeri as it would have violated the 150 km restriction with reference to Lucknow Airport for developing an airport near an existing airport.^[6]

See also

• Lucknow International Airport
• Varanasi International Airport
• Taj International Airport
• Bareilly Airport
• Allahabad Airport
• Aligarh Airport
• Faizabad Airport
• Gorakhpur Airport

References

1. "Airport expansion: Shri Prakash Jaiswal urges Akhilesh Yadav to provide land". The Times of India. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
2. "Flying away to Kolkata". The Times of India, Jan 1, 2012, 05.38AM IST. 2012-01-01.
3. "UP Cabinet okays land for airport expansion". The Times of India, Aug 22, 2013, 01:05AM IST. 2013-08-22.
4. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Seven-new-airports-to-come-up-in-Uttar-Pradesh/articleshow/30958363.cms
5. "Hindi News |Hindi News Headlines | Hindi News Online – Yahoo! Jagran Hindi News". In.jagran.yahoo.com. 2011-04-20. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
6. "Govt scraps airport project in Kanpur". 27 October 2013. Retrieved 5 August 2014.

External links

• Kanpur Airport at AAI