Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Gwalior Airport in India has laid the foundation stone of its new terminal building.
The current airport can handle 200 passengers during peak hours, and the runway can accommodate A-320 and ATR-72 aircraft. The new terminal building will be developed on 70ha of land (six times larger than the current building’s footprint) at a cost of Rs450 crore (US$54.5m). It will be able to handle 1,400 passengers during peak hours, which is seven times more than the current capacity. The apron will have parking capacity for 13 aircraft. Alongside this, a cargo terminal will be established to promote regional industries and support local production.
Technologies like rainwater harvesting and solar energy will be implemented. A 2.5MW solar power plant will be commissioned. The terminal has been designed to display Gwalior’s cultural heritage and modernity. At the ceremony, Dr Narottam Mishra, India’s Home Minister, inaugurated a permanent exhibition named Gatha Swaraj Ki in Jai Vilas Palace.
Shri Jyotiraditya M Scindia, the Indian Minister for Civil Aviation and Steel, said, “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, a new India is being developed that will lead to the development of a new Madhya Pradesh and a new Gwalior. This terminal of Gwalior Airport will strengthen this development. In the last year, the air activities of Madhya Pradesh have increased by 48%; where earlier there were 554 arrivals and departures every week in the entire state, today 821 aircraft are operating every week. Gwalior will be connected with Bangalore six days a week by SpiceJet aircraft and one day a week by Boeing 737. Moreover, Gwalior will be connected with Mumbai by Airbus 321 four days a week.”
