Classifications of Airports

India has a total of 449 airports, out of which 92 airports and 28 civil enclaves in Defence airports offer flight services over the entire airspace of India and the neighbouring oceanic areas. However, only 61 airports out of the total are permitted to be utilized by the airlines.

The Indian airports are categorized into following classifications.

• International Airports in India: The following airports link the major Indian cities to the international cities.
  •  AmritsarInternationalAirport
  • IndiraGandhiInternationalAirport, New Delhi
  • Lokpriya Gopinath Bordolio International Airport, Guwahati
  • Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad
  • Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata
  • Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai
  • HyderabadAirport
  • GoaAirport
  • BangaloreInternationalAirport
  • CochinInternationalAirport
  • ChennaiInternationalAirport
  • TrivandrumInternationalAirport
• Domestic Airports in India: All the Indian airports come under this category.

Custom Airports in India: Custom Airports provide immigration and customs facilities for the international tourists. They also operate cargo charter flights.  The custom airports in India are located at,

• Bangalore
• Hyderabad
• Ahmedabad
• Calicut
• Cochin
• Goa
• Varanasi
• Patna
• Agra
• Jaipur
• Amritsar
• Tiruchirapally

Model Airports in India: Indian Model Airports are the domestic airports with following features.

• Minimum 7500 feet length of runway
• Sufficient terminal capacity for handling aircraft of Airbus 320 type
• If required, can also handle limited international traffic

The model airports in India are located in.

• Lucknow
• Bhubaneshwar
• Guwahati
• Nagpur
• Vadodara
• Coimbatore
• Imphal
• Indore

Civil Enclaves in Indian Defence Airports: 28 civil enclaves are included in the Defence airfields of India. For the purposes of adjusting and confirming flight schedules, the air transport industry recognizes three different categories of airports, depending on the relationship between operational demand and airport capacity.

• Level 1 airport (or Non-coordinated airports): Airports whose capacity is enough to meet airlines’ air transport demand.
• Level 2 airports (or Schedules Facilitated airports): Airports where airlines’ air transport demand is close to the airport’s capacity and where there is a potential risk of congestion at certain times. In these airports voluntary cooperation between airlines may be necessary, and there will be a Schedules Facilitator to organize and adjust the schedules as needed to avoid congestion.
• Level 3 airports (or Co-ordinated airports): Airports where airlines’ air transport demand exceeds the airport capacity during significant periods and the situation cannot be resolved in the short term. In these airports there will be a Slot Coordinator, and all airlines must have a slot authorized by the Slot Coordinator in order to land or take off at the airport (except State flights, emergency landings and humanitarian flights).