Surat airport to add 6 more parking bays from July 13

SURAT: With six more parking bays for aircraft to become operational at Surat airport from July 13, Surti flyers can expect to be connected by more early morning flights. The total number of parking bays at the airport will now reach 11 from the existing five.
After the Airport Authority of India (AAI) will make it operational, the possibility of late flights from other destinations to Surat also increases as night parking will be available henceforth. When asked about the new terminal building, Surat airport director Rupesh Kumar said : “It will be operational within one or one and half months.”
Kumar told TOI, “Now, we will be able to more scheduled and non-scheduled flights at Surat airport. We expect that more airlines will come as they will get parking facility to overnight halt. Airlines will be able to use this parking bays for their base flights also. At present, we have five parking bays which will be increased to 11. Earlier, SpiceJet had one parking bay for their base flight but it was discontinued. With airlines like Vistara and Akasa Air approaching us for more flights, we are hopeful that these parking bays will prove to be a boost for Surat’s flyers and also airlines.”
“As airlines will have an option to park here, they will operate late flights from other cities to Surat. As other airports have big parking charges, Surat airport will be a good option for other airlines for parking. This will also result in early morning flight,” Rajesh Modi, an aviation enthusiast said. Linesh Shah, member from WWWA, Surat group, said that the opening of 6 new bays is good news for Surtis. “Current size of terminal is small and thus, when four flights operate at same time, one can notice a chaos. With the new parking bays, more flights will come. It is necessary that work for new terminal gets over soon,” Shah added.