Click to play videoSurat: The floods have left the Surat airport isolated these days. Like the city streets, the airport is also underwater. Besides an odd private aircraft that is a rare sight, cows seem to be the only traffic the airport is witnessing these days.
The floods also mean that the city's 70-crore expansion plan will not be completed on time. The runway extension for Airbus and Boeing aircraft, still under construction, was supposed to be completed by December 31.
"Foundation work, terminal building is yet to start, and extension for Airbus and Boeing will start after the rainy season," Airport In-Charge, Surat Airport, Ranveer Singh says
Meanwhile, the textile and diamond businessmen, that the city is famous for, have no choice but to take the train or road while travelling out of the city for work. An airport, they say, is the need of the hour.
"An airport here is absolutely compulsory," a resident of Surat, Shagun Parikh says.
"Surat is the centre of the textile and diamond industry," another resident adds.
While Airport officials claim that 50 per cent of the work has been completed, it seems Surat's citizens will have to wait for sometime before they have an airport of their own.
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