AAI: International status to Surat airport was mistake

Surat: Once again, the city airport has landed in a fresh controversy. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has admitted that it had by mistake called the airport ‘international’.
In a tweet on November 28, the AAI posted an image showing how the Surat airport’s integrated terminal building would look after completion. In the image, the airport was called ‘Surat International Airport’. The terminal building has been under redevelopment for the past couple of years.
The tweet surprised aviation enthusiasts who have been fighting to keep the city airport functional for the past 15 years.
These activists mounted pressure on the aviation authorities and politicians through campaigns to provide basic infrastructure at the airport.
“I was happy to see that AAI is calling Surat airport ‘international’. But later when I checked with AAI, I found that Surat was not included in the list of declared international airports,” said Rajesh Modi, an aviation enthusiast.
Modi filed an RTI query with AAI and requested for documents related to ‘international’ status of Surat airport.
“I was surprised when AAI accepted that it was an error on their part to call the city airport ‘international’, in the tweet. It was shocking to know how AAI committed the error,” said Modi.
In the RTI reply, AAI stated: “Thanks for bringing it to our notice. The said inclusion was an inadvertent error due to a design overlook. Correcting the mistake, AAI has deleted the tweet in question.”
Despite several attempts, Surat airport director Aman Saini was not available for comments.