Jaipur International Airport is the primary airport serving Jaipur, the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Jaipur International Airport has been declared as the World's Best Airport in the category of 2 to 5 million passengers per annum for 2015 & 2016 according to Airports Council International. Jaipur Airport is the 11th busiest airport in India in daily scheduled flight operations. It is located in the southern suburb of Sanganer, from Jaipur. The airport was granted the status of international airport on 29 December 2005. The civil apron can accommodate 14 aircraft and the new terminal building can handle up to 1,000 passengers at a time.
Runway
Jaipur International Airport consists of two runways: the first runway is and is long and the second runway is and is long. Runway 9/27 became operational from 15 September 2016 to handle bigger aircraft like the Boeing 747 to take off and land from Jaipur Airport after the completion of the runway extension from to in order to handle Boeing 777s. The runway 9/27 is CAT-IIIB instrument landing system compliant. This facilitates the landing of aircraft on a runway visibility range of up to during fog. Earlier this was, benefiting airlines in terms of increased safety and avoiding diversions to other airports resulting in better operational and environmental efficiency. CAT III B became operational from December 8, 2016. A taxiway has been planned for Jaipur Airport, parallel to runway 9/27 to deal with its air traffic congestion. The work will be completed in the end of May 2018, after the completion the airport will be able to accommodate 16 flights in an hour. The airport has only one runway which takes care of takeoff and landing operations of airlines. The first runway is not used for landing and taking off of aircraft for very long time.
Terminals
Terminal 1
Terminal 1 used to operate international flights until July 2012, when the airport authorities decided to shift the international flights to the newly built Terminal 2 to reserve Terminal 1 for cargo operations. After four years, in 2017 the airport administration began preparations to resume commercial flight operations in the old terminal due to increasing passenger load on Terminal 2. Presently, only Hajj and cargo flights are operated from Terminal 1. To shift the flights to Terminal 1, a part of the cargo operations will have to be shifted from there. Renovation work of Terminal 1 started in December 2017 and there are plans to make it operational by May 2019. Terminal 1 will be renovated in Rajasthani look. After the completion of renovation, Terminal 1 will be fully upgraded and expanded to 18,000 square meters and it will cater to only international departures and arrivals.
Terminal 2
The new domestic terminal building at the airport was inaugurated on 1 July 2009. The new terminal has an area of with facilities such as a central heating system, central air conditioning, an inline x-ray baggage inspection system integrated with the departure conveyor system, inclined arrival baggage claim carousels, escalators, a public address system, a flight information display system, CCTV for surveillance, airport check-in counters with Common Use Terminal Equipment, car parking, etc. The domestic terminal building has a peak hour passenger handling capacity of 500 passengers and an annual handling capacity of 400,000. The entrance gate is made of sandstone and Dholpur stones along with Rajasthani paintings on the walls. The terminal is currently used for both International and Domestic flights. To manage the hordes of VIP's who fly in and out of the Pink City, the airport has three VIP lounges to ensure that the visiting guests and commuters don't cause inconvenience to each other. Terminal 2 is spread over twenty three thousand meter square in area and has 14 airport check-in counters, six immigration counters, four customs and four security counters that can easily accommodate the passenger traffic at the airport and provide them a hassle free experience.
Cargo
Beginning from July 16, 2012, Terminal 1 was closed to passenger traffic and was remodeled to handle solely cargo operations. The cargo terminal is adjacent to the old passenger terminal building and has an area of approximately. The cargo facility is being provided by Rajasthan Small Scale Industries, a public sector undertaking of Government of Rajasthan. To shift the flights to Terminal 1, a part of the cargo operations will have to be shifted from here.
Modernisation and expansion of terminals
The current Terminal 2 will be expanded in a width of around 20 meters on each side. A new hall will be made in the departure area and 3 conveyor belts will be established in the arrival area with 2 new aerobridges to ease passenger movement. The work will be completed by May. The new departure area is spread in 2,700 square metres while the arrival area was constructed in an area of nearly 23,000 square feet. A new third terminal with world class amenities will come up in the following years, with an area seven times larger than Terminal 2.
Airlines and destinations
Incidents
On 18 February 1969, Douglas DC-3 VT-CJH of Indian Airlines crashed on take-off on a scheduled passenger flight. The aircraft was overloaded and take-off was either downwind or with a crosswind. All 30 people on board survived.
On 5 January 2014, Flight AI-890 Airbus A320 VT-ESH of Air India from Imphal to Delhi via Guwahati was diverted to Jaipur Airport due to heavy fog in Delhi. The rear tire of the plane burst during landing, damaging the right wing. The plane received substantial damage and the aircraft was written off. All 173 passengers and 6 crew members survived.
