>Raebareli Area at 19:09, 6 June 2021

2021-06-06T19:09:57Z

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{{short description|Airport in Raebareli}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox airport
| name = Fursatganj Airfield
| | nativename = {{nobold|{{lang|ur|{{nq|Raebareli Airport}}}}}}
| image =
| image-width = 250
| caption =
| IATA =
| ICAO = VERB
| type = Public
| owner = [[Ministry of Civil Aviation (India)|Ministry of Civil Aviation]], [[Government of India]]
| operator = [[Airports Authority of India]]
| city-served = [[Raebareli]] & [[Amethi]]
| location = Fursatganj, [[Amethi district]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[India]]
| pushpin_map = India Uttar Pradesh#India
| elevation-f = 359
| elevation-m =
| coordinates = {{coord|26.2485|81.3801|type:airport_region:IN|display=inline,title}}
| website = http://igrua.gov.in
| metric-elev =
| metric-rwy =
| r1-number = 9/27
| r1-length-f = 6118
| r1-length-m = 1864.77
| r1-surface = [[Asphalt]]
| stat-year =
| stat1-header =
| stat1-data =
| stat2-header =
| stat2-data =
| footnotes =
}}

'''Fursatganj Airfield or Raebareli Airport''' is an [[airfield]] situated at Fursatganj of [[Amethi district]] (formerly in [[Raebareli district]]) in the Indian state of [[Uttar Pradesh]].

''[[Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi]]'' is a flight training school established in 1986 and co-located with the airfield under the government of India.<ref name=igrua/>

== Airlines and destinations ==
The airport/airstrip has only unscheduled chartered flights.

==Consideration of a new world class civil aviation university==
[[Rahul Gandhi]] rather than any other of the civil aviation officials announced the much-awaited venue of the civil aviation university, which till date was a mystery. Addressing a public function at '''Fursatganj''' in [[Raebareli district]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], Gandhi surprised everyone by his announcement, proposing that [[Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University]] would be built at '''Fursatganj''' with an aim to give better training facilities to the pilots. He also announced the expansion of Fursatganj airport, so that farmers' produce can be exported. The announcement was made at a function to mark the 25th anniversary of [[Indira Gandhi National Aviation Academy]] (IGRUA), a premier academy of pilot training in India, where [[Vayalar Ravi]] was also present. On 17 October, during the International Civil Aviation Conference in Mumbai, Ravi had announced the plans for the university. Since then, he is believed to be pitching hard for the institution to come to his home turf. MiD DAY had reported ('Kerala to host world class aviation school', 19 October) that during discussions for the project, debates supported that the university should be located between northern and western India, but the aviation minister was of a view that the university must be established in Kerala.<ref name="mid-day.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/dec/191211-Fursatganj-to-get-aviation-university.htm|title=Fursatganj to get aviation university|publisher=Mid Day, 2011-12-19, Place: Rae Bareli}}</ref>

===Official confirmation===
Talking to MiD DAY, Nasim Zaidi, union civil aviation secretary, said, Yes, it has been decided that the university would be built at Fursatganj in UP and its campus will be close to IGRUA at Fursatganj airfield. Despite repeated attempts, Ravi remained unavailable for comment. In order to minimise the scarcity of aviation professionals in the country, the Civil Aviation Ministry mooted the idea of the first aviation university.<ref name="mid-day.com"/>

==Proposed extension of the airport==
The aviation ministry has decided that Airports Authority of India will extend the 6,000-ft-long runway at the [[Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi]] (IGRUA) at Raebareli to make it fit for bigger jets. And AAI will also construct a passenger terminal to have an airport to replace what is only a flying academy now.<ref name="articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com">{{cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-12-19/india/30533641_1_greater-noida-airport-commercial-airport-aviation|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707090929/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-12-19/india/30533641_1_greater-noida-airport-commercial-airport-aviation|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-07|work=[[The Times of India]]|title=Commercial airport planned in Sonia’s hub before Greater Noida| date=2011-12-19}}</ref>

===Extension of runway===
The decision was taken at IGRUA in a meeting that Rahul had with then aviation minister [[Vayalar Ravi]] (Ajit Singh, also from UP, was sworn in as aviation minister on Sunday), aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi and other top officials. The runway is currently 6,000 ft which will be extended to 7,500 ft and then 9,000 ft in the second stage, said sources.<ref name="articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com"/>

===Estimated cost===
The estimated cost for the 7,500-ft runway and terminal is Rs 150 crore and it will cost another Rs 100 crore for expanding it, said sources. While a proposal for funding this would be sent to the Planning Commission, aviation authorities estimate that about 350 acres would be needed. The move is expected to lead to economic development - and rich political harvest - as Raebareli could become the fifth city in UP to have an airport after Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra and Kanpur.<ref name="articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com"/>

==See also==
* [[Amausi Airport|Lucknow International Airport]]
* [[Varanasi Airport|Varanasi International Airport]]
* [[Taj International Airport]]
* [[Kanpur Airport]]
* [[Allahabad Airport]]
* [[Faizabad Airport]]
* [[Sultanpur Airport]]

==References==
<references>
<ref name=igrua>{{Citation
|title=Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi |publisher=Government of India
|url=http://igrua.gov.in/ |accessdate=1 September 2011 |archivedate=21 July 2011
|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721155915/http://www.igrua.gov.in/ }}</ref>
</references>

{{Airports in India}}

[[Category:Airports in Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category: Amethi district]][[Category:University and college airports]]
[[Category:Airports with year of establishment missing]]

Fursatganj Airfield - Revision history

>Raebareli Area at 19:09, 6 June 2021