The weekend saw hectic activity at Surat Airport. Apart from the VVIP movements, the historic flight to Dubai took-off. Operated by Air India Express, this comes on the day the airport got its “International Airport” tag. To be fair, the airport also has international operations with Air India Express operating to Sharjah. The airport was classified as a “Customs” airport, which allows International operations.
This comes on the day when the world’s largest office building the “Surat Diamond Bourse” was inaugurated by the Prime Minister. Will this new record help propel Surat’s aviation which has been struggling for years? Surat’s brush with air connectivity is long and arduous, to say the least. The second largest city of Gujarat is in the top 10 in the country by population and is a diamond-cutting and polishing hub in the country.
Recent History
Surat Airport has had its fair share of controversies. From restricting daily movements due to runway quality to the famous SpiceJet buffalo incident, the airport has seen it all. Not long ago, the local business community had agreed for a bank guarantee to the then government owned Air India to operate flights to Surat. From the tiny CRJs to the Airbus flights, Air India and later SpiceJet continued the connectivity at Surat.
The major breakthrough came when AirAsia India launched Surat becoming the first carrier to offer Bengaluru to Surat flights. IndiGo soon followed. AirAsia India vacated Surat only to return in March 2023. Go FIRST also operated to Surat albeit briefly.
As of today, Air India Express operates from Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Sharjah, with Dubai being added and Hyderabad. The airline may balance its Dubai and Sharjah flights as they cater to identical sets of passengers. IndiGo operates from Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Diu, Goa – Dabolim, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur and Udaipur; SpiceJet operates from Jaipur, Pune and Goa – Mopa. Star Air also operates to Surat under RCS-UDAN with flights to Belgaum and Kishangarh.
The opportunity and lack of connectivity
More often than not, the vast population becomes the ready available market for airlines. In the case of Surat, it is the ninth largest urban conglomerate in India but when it comes to traffic – it pales. Traffic is a function of capacity and Surat has seen peaks of capacity followed by pull-outs leading to a sudden slump. This has been the case with airline announcing flights and not-starting as more lucrative slots and routes become available due to market dynamics with the latest being IndiGo which announced re-launch of Kolkata to Surat service but never started as more slots in metro’s became available after the suspension of Go FIRST.
The citizens have often accused airlines of turning a blind eye towards the city and not giving the city its due, while the airlines have often blamed poor yields and high capacity environments to expand further, the end result has been that in a city which proudly boasts of its diamond exports, passengers have not been able to fly directly out of Surat and not just abroad even domestic connectivity has had challenges.
For the first six months of current financial year, Surat saw a footfall of 6,17,783 domestic passengers, which is much lesser Indore (16,37,908) or Nagpur (13,91,152) which have lesser population than Surat and are not state capitals. For the last financial year, Surat was 38th busiest airport in the country, a mismatch from its population and size.
Tail Note
Not many would know it, but Surat has its own airline in the form of Ventura Air Connect, a non-scheduled carrier that was earlier based in Indore. The airline was purchased and moved its base to Surat in mid 2010s. The airline connects Surat to smaller airstrips in Gujarat and some points outside the state. Has good rail and road connectivity been detrimental to Surat’s aviation growth? The new terminal, expanded apron and international status would now gain attention from airlines
The world’s largest building is not just for records. It will drive business and aviation is a key factor to drive business. With the issues of restricted space, shorter runway and smaller terminal behind us, will airlines see opportunity in Surat?
(Ameya Joshi is an aviation analyst)