Rajkot in Gujarat will have a new "greenfield" airport by August 2022. The new airport is being built on the Ahmedabad-Rajkot highway on over 1,000 hectares of land at an estimated cost of Rs 1,405 crore.

Rajkot District Collector Arun Mahesh Babu told media that work on the new Greenfield airport in Hirasar is progressing well and will start soon. On the occasion of 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahostav', they plan to launch the new airport in August, subject to DGCA approval.

Babu said the current airport is in the heart of the city and suffers from significant capacity constraints due to residential and commercial buildings built around it. The current runway cannot serve aircraft larger than Airbus 320 or Boeing 737-800.

At the new airport, a runway length of 3040 m is proposed to serve B777-300ER/B747-400 aircraft. Out of a total of 1,032 hectares, 437 hectares is an operational area and 595 hectares is a non-operational area. It will be able to park 14 aircraft (four in contact and 10 remote) at once. With a total built area of ​​23,000 m², the new terminal building of this new airport will be able to handle 1,280 passengers during peak hours.

Babu shared details on the current status of the work, saying that more than 78% of the groundwork and 75% of the runway and other pavement works are currently completed. In addition, the work for the terminal building and the ATC tower is in full swing.

Babu said the new airport will boost economic activity and employment, change consumer behavior and raise the living standards of the people in the area. Rajkot is the fourth largest city in Gujarat after Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara.

Rajkot is the commercial capital of Saurashtra and is the center of many manufacturing industries such as watch parts, silk embroidery and the jewelery market. The city is also home to several small-scale manufacturing industries, including machine tools, casting, forging, auto parts, kitchen knives and other cutting gadgets, diesel engines, and bearings.

The ceramic industry of Morbi and other industries of Jamnagar additionally depend on Rajkot for air connections.