Agra Airport

Agra Airport[5][6] (IATA: AGR, ICAO: VIAG), also known as Kheria Airport,[7] is a domestic airport and an Indian Air Force base serving the city of Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The air force station is one of the largest airbases of the Indian Air Force. On 15 August 2007, the airbase celebrated its sixtieth anniversary.

Agra Airport
Summary
Airport typeMilitary/Public
OwnerIndian Air Force
OperatorAirports Authority of India
ServesAgra
LocationAgra, Uttar Pradesh, India
Opened15 August 1947 (1947-08-15)[1]
Elevation AMSL551 ft / 167.94 m
Coordinates27.1618309°N 77.9707261°E / 27.1618309; 77.9707261
WebsiteAgra Airport
Map
AGR is located in Uttar Pradesh
AGR
AGR
Location of airport in Uttar Pradesh
AGR is located in India
AGR
AGR
AGR (India)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
05/23 9,000 2,743 Concrete
12/30 5,964 1,818 Concrete
Statistics (April 2022 - March 2023)
Passengers131,643 (Increase 80.8%)
Aircraft movements1,903 (Increase 75.2%)
Cargo tonnage3 Increase
Source: AAI[2][3][4]

History

The station was opened during World War II as Royal Air Forces Station Agra and had a number of flying units located there. It was closed after the war and transferred to the Royal Indian Air Force. The prefix Royal was later dropped and the station was later renamed. Air Force Station Agra was established on 15 August 1947 and placed under the command of Wing Commander Shivdev Singh, who was the incumbent commander of the No. 12 Sqn. Based on the then present system of Commands, the airfield fell under the responsibility of the Western Air Command (WAC). The base remained under this Theatre Command for the next two decades. In July 1971 it was transferred to the Central Air Command (CAC), where it remains today.

During its sixty-year history with the IAF, it has seen the likes of C-47 Dakotas, C-119 Packets, HS 748 'Avros', AN-12s, AN-32s, IL-76s, Canberras, IL-78 MKI, and now the Airborne Early Warning and Control/AWACS.

The station now has the honour of holding the first inflight refueling aircraft Squadron in IAF service, with No. 78 ‘Mid Air Refuelling Squadron’ (MARS) Squadron flying the IL-78MKIs.

During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces Air Technical Service Command established a major maintenance and supply facility at Agra, named "Agra Air Depot". The 3rd Air Depot Group serviced a wide variety of fighter, bomber and transport aircraft being used by Tenth Air Force and the Allied ground forces in Burma and Fourteenth Air Force in China. The depot stockpiled large amounts of material for shipment over the Himalayan Mountains ("The Hump") by Air Transport Command cargo aircraft flying to forward airfields in China. It also was a major stopover point on the ATC Karachi-Kunming air transport route.[8] The airport is mentioned in a chapter in Ernest Gann's Fate Is the Hunter, wherein he relays a story of coming with feet of destroying the Taj Mahal in a severely overloaded C-87 after takeoff.[9]

Agra Air Force Station

No. 50 Squadron IAF has been tasked with the operations of the newly inducted Beriev A-50E/I Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS) aircraft. The AWACS has been mounted on a specially designed IL-76 with advanced avionics & telecommunication systems.

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
IndiGo Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Lucknow,[10] Mumbai

Statistics
Annual passenger traffic at AGR airport. See Wikidata query.

See also

References

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

  1. "Kheria Airport (Agra Airport)". www.cityseeker.com.
  2. "Annexure III – Passenger Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  3. "Annexure II – Aircraft Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  4. "Annexure IV – Freight Movement Data" (PDF). aai.aero. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  5. "Indian airports and the name game". India Today. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  6. "IndiGo announces new flight between Agra and Bangalore!". Financial Express. 8 January 2020.
  7. "Kheria Airport (Agra Airport)". www.cityseeker.com.
  8. USAFHRA Document Search Agra Air Depot
  9. Fate is the Hunter, Ernest K Gann, Simon & Schuster, 1961
  10. "Agra Lucknow flight: खत्म होने जा रहा है इंतजार, एक अक्टूबर से शुरू होगी आगरा-लखनऊ फ्लाइट".
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