Agra Airport

Agra Airport
Summary
Airport type Military / Public
Operator Indian Air Force /
Airports Authority of India
Location Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India
Elevation AMSL 551 ft / 167.94 m
Coordinates 27°09′27″N 77°57′39″E / 27.15750°N 77.96083°E / 27.15750; 77.96083Coordinates: 27°09′27″N 77°57′39″E / 27.15750°N 77.96083°E / 27.15750; 77.96083
Website airportsindia.org.in/allAirports/agra_generalinfo.jsp
Map
AGR
AGR
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
05/23 9,000 2,743 Concrete
12/30 5,964 1,818 Concrete

Agra Airport (IATA: AGR, ICAO: VIAG) is a military airbase and public airport serving the city of Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The air force station is one of the largest airbase of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and has been synonymous with the Taj Mahal for over half a century. On 15 August 2007, the airbase celebrated its sixtieth anniversary. The airbase was also featured in the 2013 Walt Disney Pictures movie - Planes as a pit stop for the Wings Across The World race.

History

The station was opened during World War II as Royal Air Forces Station Agra and had a number of flying units located there. It was closed after the war and transferred to the Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF). The prefix Royal was later dropped and the station was later renamed. Air Force Station Agra was established on 15 August 1947 and placed under the command of Wing Commander Shivdev Singh, who was the incumbent commander of the No. 12 Sqn. Based on the then present system of Commands, the airfield fell under the responsibility of the Western Air Command (WAC). The base remained under this Theatre Command for the next two decades. In July 1971 it was transferred to the Central Air Command (CAC), where it remains today.

The airfield has remained unchanged, although many of the aircraft, squadrons, officers, and men have come and gone. During its sixty-year history with the IAF, it has seen the likes of C-47 Dakotas, C-119 Packets, HS 748 'Avros', AN-12s, AN-32s, IL-76s, Canberras, IL-78 MKI and now the Airborne Early Warning and Control/AWACS. Today, it is hard to find a transport pilot who has not been at Air Force Station Agra at least sometime during his career; this trend will undoubtedly continue well into the future.

The station now has the honour of holding the first inflight refueling aircraft Squadron in IAF service, with No 78 ‘Mid Air Refuelling Squadron’ (MARS) Squadron flying the IL-78MKIs.

During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces Air Technical Service Command established a major maintenance and supply facility at Agra, named "Agra Air Depot". The 3rd Air Depot Group serviced a wide variety of fighter, bomber and transport aircraft being used by Tenth Air Force and the Allied ground forces in Burma and Fourteenth Air Force in China. The depot stockpiled large amounts of material for shipment over the Himalayan Mountains ("The Hump") by Air Transport Command cargo aircraft flying to forward airfields in China. It also was a major stopover point on the ATC Karachi-Kunming air transport route.[1] The airport is mentioned in a chapter in Ernest Gann's Fate is The Hunter, wherein he relays a story of coming with feet of destroying the Taj Mahal in a severely overloaded C-87 after takeoff.[2]

Developments

No. 50 Squadron IAF has been tasked with the operations of the newly inducted Beriev A-50E/I Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS) aircraft. The AWACS has been mounted on a specially designed IL-76 with advanced avionics & telecommunication systems.

Air service

As of July 2017, Air India operates a direct service routed Delhi–Varanasi–Agra–Khajuraho. The return service departs Khajuraho for Varanasi, continuing on to Delhi.[3]

Taj International Airport

A new greenfield international airport is proposed for Agra in a bid to give required fillip to tourism in Uttar Pradesh, Taj international airport project at Agra would be implemented in right earnest with the state government according top priority to this project as Taj Mahal is one of the most visited tourist spots in the world. Consortium of Rites Ltd and KPMG Advisory Services Pvt Ltd, the selected consultants for this project, made a detailed presentation to Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner(IIDC), Anil Kumar Gupta on the future course of action. Consultants were asked to identify the best suited site by the end of the current financial year. The project site would be selected in a way so as to enable prompt clearances and approvals for the implementation without any hindrances. To be developed through Public Private Partnership (PPP), in order to ensure time-bound execution of the project, the government has assured full cooperation at all levels of administration. Development of an international airport near the Taj Mahal will enhance the tourist inflow, the new airport would also cater to needs of frequent fliers, entrepreneurs and exporters from the region. If everything goes as per plan, Agra will have an international airport within 4 to 5 years.[4]

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

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