The work on the much awaited Shirdi Airport which has been going on since few years, is now in its final stage.
The Airport, which is coming up on 400 hectare land at Kakadi village, 11 km from Shirdi,
is now slated to be completed in March 2014,
for which the Maharashtra Airport Development Company is working in full swing.
The project, estimated to cost Rs.300 crore had commenced in 2010.
The Sai Baba Temple Trust has provided Rs.45 crore for the airport.
The project was implemented in five parts:
1) Construction of a road from the shrine to the airport;
2) Ensuring water supply from the West Godavari Canal up to the project site;
3) Shifting of a 33 kV electricity cable away from the airport site;
4) Development of the airstrip;
5) Construction of the terminal building and other required facilities.
The construction of the 60 metre's wide and 2,000 metre's long single runway
and a 10-ft high, 11-km boundary wall has also been completed.
A two-lane road from Shirdi to the Airport is also constructed.
However, the work on the Airport's Terminal Building and the Air Traffic Control Building is in progress & is expected
to get over by the end of March`2014, after which the Airport will be thrown open for public use in May`2014.
Till then, from January`2014, permission has been given to Private Jets/Helicopters of VIP's & or Industrialists
to make use of the runway for take-off and landing purposes while visiting Shirdi.
Tentative Flight Schedule to Shirdi:
There will 10 Flights Daily to Shirdi.
1) Mumbai - Shirdi : Daily 2 Flights
2) Delhi - Shirdi : Daily 1 Flight
3) Ahmedabad - Mumbai - Shirdi : Weekly 4 Times
4) Mumbai - Shirdi - Hyderabad : Daily 2 Flights
5) Bengaluru - Pune - Shirdi : Daily 2 Flights
6) Shirdi - Mumbai - Tirupati : Daily 1 Flight
Devotees estimated to fly to Shirdi every year:
From Mumbai - 2.5 lakh people.
From Hyderabad - 3 lakh people.
From Delhi, Surat, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru - 80,000 to 1 lakh devotees.