Raja Sansi International Airport (Hindi: राजा सांसी अंतर्राष्ट्रीय हवाई अड्डा, Punjabi: ਰਾਜਾ ਸਾਂਸੀ ਅਂਤਰ੍ਰਾਸ਼੍ਟ੍ਰੀਯ ਹਵਾਈ ਅਡ੍ਡਾ) (IATA: ATQ, ICAO: VIAR), also known as Guru Ram Das International Airport, after Guru Ram Das Ji, the founder of Amritsar, is 11 km north-west from the city of Amritsar, India. It is located on the Amritsar-Ajnala Road, near the village of Raja Sansi. It serves not only the city of Amritsar, but also the state of Punjab.

As a government designated international airport, the airport currently handles about 90 commercial flights a week, both international and domestic.

Expansion and renovation

The city of Amritsar has long remained the religious and tourist centre of Punjab, and the demand for a fully operational international airport has increased in recent years. A newly finished arrivals terminal was inaugurated in September 2005, and a finished departures terminal has been operational since March 2006.Amritsar airport which registered a passenger growth of 64.6% during April-December 2009 stood number one in country with fastest growth. This new terminal is a blend of modern and Indian designs, constructed of glass and steel, but with Indian arches and colours.

Amritsar Raja Sansi Airport (ATQ) has now completed Phase II of its development.: New integrated terminal building was inaugurated on 25 February 2009 at the Amritsar International Airport under modernisation plan to meet international standards. The new Integrated Terminal Building at the Amritsar airport has an area of 40175 sq metres (approx) compared to 12,770 previously.The newly-inaugurated terminal building is glass and steel structures having modern passenger friendly facilities such as central air conditioning system, inline X-ray baggage inspection system integrated with the baggage conveyor system, escalators, public address system, Flight Information Display System (FIDS), CCTV for surveillance, check-in counters with Common Use Terminal Equipment (CUTE), car parking, etc.

The integrated terminal building at Amritsar have peak hour passenger handling capacity of 1200 passengers and annual handling capacity of 14.6 lakh passengers. The integrated building has 30 check-in counters, four X-ray scanners (for baggage); 26 immigration Counters; ten custom counters; 12 security check booths and four conveyor belt – arrival. The apron has been extended to cater for parking of total of 14 aircraft (8 Category ‘E’, 3 Category ‘D’ and 3 Category ‘C’ type of aircraft) from the earlier capacity of ten aircraft and strengthened for parking of Category ‘E’ type of aircraft. The departure and arrival hall have facility for duty free shops. The departure hall also accommodates foreign currency exchange, book store, restaurant and other shops for the convenience of departing passengers.:. Airport will also have:

• A brand new cargo handling facility due to demands from exporters in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, who have no alternative apart from Delhi which is far too far away
• The proposed site for the Permanent Perishable Cargo Centre is located close to the air cargo complex, which has a capacity of 200 tonnes per day
• Passenger terminal building size to be doubled to 41,000 m².
• Four new aerobridges to be installed out of which two are operational.
• Parking bays to be increased from 5 to 14 by 2009.
• The runway extended by 369 meters to a total length of 3,658 meters.
• A new car park for passengers and visitors

The Airport Authority of India has shortlisted five bidders from the initial list of 23 bidders for the modernization of the Amritsar airport. These include

1. Reliance Energy Limited-AAACPL-RADPL-ASA
2. Fraport AG Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide
3. TADL-Changi Airports-Tata Power
4. Lanco Infratech Ltd - Genting (Singapore) Pte Ltd
5. L&T-IDPL-Unique Consortium

The development and modernization plans are only for the city-side of these non-metro airports and are expected to be completed by 2010, through public-private partnership (PPP). AAI will take care of the airside development of the airports.

The government wants the consortium of the selected bidder and the AAI to commercially operate the airports and maintain their terminal buildings. It would also be responsible to develop and operate cargo facilities at these airports, besides undertaking the city-side development.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already placed orders for equipments required for ILS-II, which will be imported from Germany-based flight safety equipment firm Thalef. The equipment is expected to arrive within two months following which the commissioning process will take place.

The airport modernization process is part of the upgrade process of 35 non-metro airports in the country by 2010.

Airlines and destinations

Transport to/from airport

ATQ is well connected to the roads and main highways of Punjab. While private transport in the form of automobiles is the most popular way of reaching the airport, public transport infrastructure (with the exception of taxis) has remained weak. However this is set to change with the Punjab State Government's unveiling of plans to launch regular bus services between the airport and other cities of Punjab. Air India has also unveiled plans to provide regular bus services for its ATQ passengers to and from Jalandhar. The state government has also unveiled plans to build a monorail line to connect the airport with the Golden Temple and the Railway Station in Amritsar.

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2010.
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