Indian Airports Static GK / General Awareness for Competitive Exams (with Memory Tricks)

Introduction

Indian Airports are a core Static GK area under Geography + Infrastructure. Almost every government exam asks 1–2 direct questions from this topic—either as match the following, statement-based, or current + static combination.

This topic is especially important for SSC CGL/CHSL, IBPS PO/Clerk, SBI, UPSC Prelims, Railways (NTPC/Group D), Defence, and State PCS exams.

Categorized Deep-Dive: Indian Airports

1. Airports by Operational Status (Exam Favourite)

Operational Airports (Frequently Asked)

• Delhi – Indira Gandhi International Airport
• Mumbai – Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport
• Chennai – Chennai International Airport
• Kolkata – Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport
• Hyderabad – Rajiv Gandhi International Airport
• Kochi – Cochin International Airport
• Bengaluru – Kempegowda International Airport
• Amritsar – Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport
• Jaipur – Jaipur International Airport
• Varanasi – Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport

Why asked?
SSC and Banking exams often ask airport–city matching.

Under Construction Airports

• Bhogapuram International Airport – Andhra Pradesh
• Navi Mumbai International Airport – Maharashtra
• New Pune Airport – Maharashtra
• Noida International Airport – Uttar Pradesh
• Maryada Purushottam Shriram Airport (Ayodhya) – Uttar Pradesh
• Rajkot Greenfield International Airport – Gujarat

Why important?
UPSC & SSC love new infrastructure projects.

Proposed Airports

• Dholera Airport – Gujarat
• Mandi Airport – Himachal Pradesh
• Sabarimala Greenfield Airport – Kerala
• New Chennai Greenfield Airport (Parandur) – Tamil Nadu

2. State-Wise Important Airports (High Accuracy Section)

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

• Veer Savarkar International Airport – Port Blair (Operational)

Andhra Pradesh

• Tirupati International Airport – Tirupati (Operational)
• Vijayawada Airport – Vijayawada (Operational)
• Bhogapuram International Airport – Visakhapatnam (Under Construction)

Assam

• Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport – Guwahati (Operational)

Bihar

• Jay Prakash Narayan Airport – Patna (Operational)
• Gaya Airport – Gaya (Operational)

Chhattisgarh

• Swami Vivekananda International Airport – Raipur (Operational)

Goa

• Dabolim Airport – Dabolim (Operational)
• Manohar International Airport – Mopa (Operational)

Gujarat

• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport – Ahmedabad (Operational)
• Surat International Airport – Surat (Operational)
• Rajkot Greenfield International Airport – Rajkot (Under Construction)
• Dholera Airport – Dholera (Proposed)

Himachal Pradesh

• Mandi Airport – Mandi (Proposed)

Jammu & Kashmir

• Sheikh ul-Alam International Airport – Srinagar (Operational)

Jharkhand

• Birsa Munda Airport – Ranchi (Operational)
• Deoghar Airport – Deoghar (Operational)

Karnataka

• Kempegowda International Airport – Bengaluru (Operational)
• Mangalore International Airport – Mangaluru (Operational)

Kerala (Maximum Airports – PYQ Favourite)

• Cochin International Airport – Kochi (Operational)
• Calicut International Airport – Kozhikode (Operational)
• Kannur International Airport – Kannur (Operational)
• Trivandrum International Airport – Thiruvananthapuram (Operational)
• Sabarimala Greenfield Airport – Kottayam (Proposed)

Why famous?
Kerala has maximum international airports—asked repeatedly.

Madhya Pradesh

• Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport – Indore (Operational)

Maharashtra

• Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport – Mumbai (Operational)
• Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport – Nagpur (Operational)
• Pune Airport – Pune (Operational)
• Navi Mumbai International Airport – Navi Mumbai (Under Construction)
• New Pune Airport – Pune (Under Construction)
• Nashik Airport – Nashik (Operational)

Manipur

• Imphal International Airport – Imphal (Operational)

Odisha

• Biju Patnaik International Airport – Bhubaneswar (Operational)

Punjab

• Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport – Amritsar (Operational)
• Ludhiana International Airport – Ludhiana (Under Construction)

Rajasthan

• Jaipur International Airport – Jaipur (Operational)

Tamil Nadu

• Chennai International Airport – Chennai (Operational)
• Coimbatore International Airport – Coimbatore (Operational)
• Tiruchirappalli International Airport – Tiruchirappalli (Operational)
• New Chennai Greenfield Airport – Parandur (Proposed)

Uttar Pradesh

• Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport – Lucknow (Operational)
• Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport – Varanasi (Operational)
• Kushinagar International Airport – Kushinagar (Operational)
• Noida International Airport – Gautam Buddha Nagar (Under Construction)
• Maryada Purushottam Shriram Airport – Ayodhya (Under Construction)

West Bengal

• Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport – Kolkata (Operational)
• Bagdogra Airport – Siliguri (Operational)

3. Special & Renamed Airports (Tricky Area)

Sticky Memory Zone (Mnemonics & Tricks)

Mnemonic 1 – Kerala Airports

“CKKT” → Cochin, Kozhikode, Kannur, Trivandrum

Mnemonic 2 – UP Airports

“LLK-N” → Lucknow, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Kushinagar, Noida

Mnemonic 3 – Goa Airports

“DM” → Dabolim + Manohar (Mopa)

How it helps:
Mnemonics reduce revision time and improve recall speed in exams.

Don’t Confuse These Airports

• Don’t confuse Dabolim Airport (Old Goa) with Manohar Airport (New Goa)
• Don’t confuse Rajiv Gandhi Airport (Hyderabad) with Indira Gandhi Airport (Delhi)
• Don’t confuse Calicut Airport with Cochin Airport (both in Kerala)
• Don’t confuse Gaya Airport with Patna Airport (Bihar)

Key Exam-Oriented Features

• Cochin International Airport → World’s first fully solar-powered airport
• IGI Airport, Delhi → India’s busiest airport
• Noida Airport → India’s largest greenfield airport (upcoming)
• Kempegowda Airport → Named after Bengaluru’s founder

Important One-Liners for SSC / Banking / UPSC

• Cochin Airport is the first solar airport in the world.
• IGI Airport is located in New Delhi.
• Kushinagar Airport supports Buddhist tourism.
• Mopa Airport is officially called Manohar International Airport.
• Kerala has the maximum number of international airports.
• Bhogapuram Airport is coming up in Andhra Pradesh.
• Dholera Airport is part of the DMIC project.
• Port Blair Airport is named after Veer Savarkar.
• Navi Mumbai Airport is a greenfield airport.
• Ayodhya airport is named Maryada Purushottam Shriram Airport.

Previous Year Questions (PYQ) Analysis

• SSC CGL: Match the following (Airport – City)
• IBPS PO: Statement-based (Operational vs Under Construction)
• UPSC Prelims: Current + Static (New airport location)
• Railways: Renamed airports

Quick-Summary Table (Fast Revision)