Kolkata Airport

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport is an airport located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, serving the greater Kolkata metropolitan area. It is located approximately 17 km from Kolkata's city centre. 

Code: CCU

Elevation: 7.00 m

Phone: 033 3987 4987

Address: Jessore Road, Kolkata, West Bengal 700052

 

Kolkata airport has a distinguished place in the history of aviation, traditionally serving as a strategic stopover on the air route from Europe to Indochina and Australia.^[4] Many pioneering flights passed through the airport, including that of Amelia Earhart in 1937. In 1924, KLM began scheduled stops at Calcutta, as part of their Amsterdam to Batavia (Jakarta) flight The same year, a Royal Air Force aircraft landed in Calcutta as part of the first round-the-world expedition by any air force.
The airport began as an open ground next to the Royal Artillery Armoury in Dum Dum. Sir Stanley Jackson, Governor of Bengal, opened the Bengal Flying Club at Calcutta aerodrome in February 1929. In 1930, the airfield was made fit for use throughout the year, and other airlines began to utilise the airport. Air Orient began scheduled stops as part of a Paris to Saigon route, and Imperial Airways began flights from London to Australia via Calcutta in 1933. This began a trend that drew many airlines to Calcutta airport.
Calcutta played an important role in the Second World War. In 1942, the United States Army Air Forces 7th Bombardment Group flew B-24 Liberator bombers from the airport on combat missions over Burma. The airfield was used as a cargo aerial port for the Air Transport Command, and was also used as a communication center for the Tenth Air Force.
Passenger services grew after the Second World War. Calcutta became a destination for the world’s first jet-powered passenger aircraft, the de Havilland Comet, on a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) route to London. Furthermore, in 1964 Indian Airlines introduced the first Indian domestic jet service, using Caravelle jets on the Calcutta–Delhi route.
Between the 1940s and 1960s, the airport was served by several major airlines including Aeroflot, Air France, Alitalia, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Philippine Airlines, KLM, Pan Am, Lufthansa, Swissair and SAS.
Due to the introduction of longer haul aircraft and the poor political climate of Calcutta during the 1960s, several airlines discontinued their service to the airport. The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War saw a large increase of both refugees and disease in Calcutta, causing more airlines to cease services to the city. In 1975, the airport opened the first dedicated cargo terminal in India.
In the early 1980s, plans emerged to connect the airport with the city center by tram. The proposed route went to the airport from Maniktala, via Vivekananda Road, Ultadanga and Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue. The line partly completed 1985, but further expansion to the airport was cancelled due to the financial downing of Calcutta Tramways Company. The extension proposal re-appeared in 1999, but was cancelled.
The 1990s saw new growth for Calcutta airport, as the Indian aviation industry saw the arrival of new airlines such as Jet Airways and Air Sahara. A new domestic terminal was opened in 1995, and the airport was renamed in honour of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. In 2000, a new international arrival hall was opened.

Modernisation

The interior of the new departure area.

View of the new Terminal from outside

2005 saw the growth of Low Cost Carriers in the Indian aviation sector, with new airlines including Spice Jet, IndiGo and Kingfisher Airlines. This led to a dramatic rise in passenger numbers at the airport. Overcrowding in both terminals led to the implementation of a comprehensive modernisation plan for the airport.

One of the many aerobridges that were imported from Indonesia.

Work included an expansion of runway 01L/19R, rapid-exit taxiways and parking bays. The runway was extended by 400 m (1,300 ft) on the northern side and 1000 ft on the southern side, and was fitted with CAT-I facilities for night use. A 119-year old mosque that lies 30 meters from the runway' northern end prohibits further expansion in this direction. The longer runway, 01R/19L, was upgraded from CAT-I to CAT-II ILS status to allow landings in poor visibility. The former airport hotel 'Ashok' was demolished to give way to two new five-star luxury hotels and a shopping mall in its place. Future modernisation plans include the construction of an 86 meter high Air Traffic Control Tower .
The modernisation plan included some improvements of the airport's existing terminals, including the addition of extra ticketing counters, check-in kiosks and cafes to the domestic terminal in 2009. However, the need to replace the airport's terminals entirely led to plans for a new integrated terminal to serve both international and domestic destinations. A Thai-based company, the Italian-Thai Development (ITD) Corporation (ITD-ITDCem JV, a consortium of ITD and ITD Cementation) was hired with Delhi-based designer Sikka Associates to construct the building. Construction commenced in November 2008, and the terminal was inaugurated on 20 January 2013 after overshooting the previous deadlines of July 2011 and August 2012.

 

 

Done by - Polybond Organics Pvt Ltd

Commercial operations were intended to start on 23 January 2013, the 116th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. However, the shift to the new terminal was only completed on the 16th of March.

Largest quantities ever used in the world, the Honey Comb Ceilings featured in the airport are a very special work executed by Polybond Organics Pvt Ltd. Similarly a Tube-line Systemceiling is the first of its kind showcasing high quality standards. The ceiling system and the forecourt canopy incorporate the writings of Rabindranath Tagore of Bengal.

Passenger airlines

Airlines	Destinations
Air India	Agartala, Aizawl, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Dhaka, Dibrugarh, Dimapur, Gaya, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Kathmandu, Mumbai, Port Blair, Shillong, Silchar, Singapore, Yangon
Air India Regional	Delhi, Kanpur, Silchar, Ranchi, Patna, Bhubaneshwar
AirAsia	Kuala Lumpur
Biman Bangladesh Airlines	Dhaka
Cathay Pacific	Hong Kong
China Eastern Airlines	Kunming
Dragonair	Hong Kong
Druk Air	Paro, Singapore, Dhaka
Emirates	Dubai
GoAir	Ahmedabad, Bagdogra, Delhi, Guwahati, Port Blair
IndiGo	Agartala, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam
Jet Airways	Bagdogra, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Chennai, Dhaka, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Jorhat, Mumbai, Patna, Port Blair, Pune, Ranchi, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara, Varanashi
JetKonnect	Agartala, Aizawl, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Imphal, Indore, Jorhat, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Port Blair, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Silchar, Thiruvananthapuram, Varanashi, Visakhapatnam
Qatar Airways	Doha
Silk Air	Singapore
Singapore Airlines	Singapore
SpiceJet	Ahmedabad, Agartala, Bagdogra, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Goa, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Port Blair, Pune, Varanashi
Thai AirAsia	Bangkok-Don Mueang
Thai Airways International	Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi
United Airways	Chittagong, Dhaka

Cargo airlines

Airlines	Destinations
Bismillah Airlines	Dhaka
Blue Dart Aviation	Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai
Lufthansa Cargo	Frankfurt, Shenzhen, Hong Kong
Thai Airways International Cargo	Bangkok
Qatar Airways Cargo	Doha, Dhaka
QuikJet Cargo	Various
Singapore Airlines Cargo	Singapore

Charted airlines

Airlines	Destinations
Deccan Aviation	Jamshedpur
NorthEast Shuttles	Jamshedpur
Jamshedpur Air Connect Private Limited	Jamshedpur

Accidents and incidents

• 2 May 1953: A BOAC de Havilland Comet bound for Delhi crashed after takeoff from Calcutta airport with the loss of 43 lives. Parts of the aircraft were found spread over an area of eight square miles, near Jugalgari, a village some 25 miles north-west of Calcutta, suggesting disintegration before impact with the ground.

• 12 June 1968: a Pan-Am Boeing 707-321C struck a tree 1128m short of the runway during a night-time visual approach in rain. The aircraft subsequently crashed and caught fire. The fuselage remained largely intact, although the aircraft's landing gear had broken off. Out of the 10 crew and 53 passengers aboard, 1 crew member and 5 passengers suffered fatal injuries due to the fire.