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Safdarjung Airport

New Delhi, India

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ICAO

VIDD

Elevation

705 ft

The gateway in a glance

The Essence of Safdarjung Airport

Location

New Delhi · DL · India

Position

28.585°, 77.204° · 705 ft elev.

Visa & Entry

e-Visa (Tourist / Business / Medical), Visa on Arrival (select nationalities)Official

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A closer look

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TravelerPulse profile

Historic general aviation airport in the heart of New Delhi.

Opened

1929

Location

New Delhi, India

Safdarjung Airport is a historic aerodrome located in central New Delhi, India, serving as one of the country's oldest surviving airports. It was the primary commercial airport for Delhi before Indira Gandhi International Airport took over that role. Today it operates primarily as a general aviation and VIP charter facility. The airport is notable for its vintage Art Deco terminal building, which is a protected heritage structure. It houses the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) headquarters, making it an important administrative hub for Indian aviation regulation. The aerodrome also serves as a base for flying clubs, pilot training, and helicopter operations. Its single grass runway limits the type and size of aircraft that can operate there, and no scheduled commercial passenger services currently use the facility.

Terminals

The airport has a single historic terminal building with no commercial passenger operations; it serves general aviation, VIP, and administrative functions.

Getting to & from

The airport is accessible by road via central New Delhi, with the nearby Safdarjung metro station on the Delhi Metro Yellow Line providing public transit access.

Airlines here

No commercial airlines operate scheduled services from Safdarjung Airport; it is used for general aviation, charter, and flying club activities.

Notable facts

›The Art Deco terminal building is a protected heritage structure.
›Headquarters of India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is located here.
›It served as Delhi's primary commercial airport before Palam (now Indira Gandhi International) took over.
›The aerodrome features a grass runway, limiting operations to lighter aircraft.
›It is one of the oldest surviving airports in India, dating to the late 1920s.

Wikipedia

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Airlines serving this airport

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Routes

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Passport, Visa & Immigration

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Encyclopaedia

Safdarjung Airport is an airport in South Delhi, India, in the neighbourhood of the same name. Established during the British Raj as Willingdon Airfield, it started operations as an aerodrome in 1929, when it was India's second airport after the Juhu Aerodrome in Mumbai. It was used extensively during the Second World War as it was part of the South Atlantic air ferry route, and later during Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. Once situated on the edge of Lutyens' Delhi, today, it has the entire city of New Delhi around it. It remained the city's main airport until 1962, when operations shifted to Palam Airport completely by the late 1960s, as it could not support the new bigger aircraft such as jet aircraft.

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