IXUVAAUNormal

Aurangabad Airport

Aurangabad, India · Asia-Pacific

Compact AAI civil gateway at Chikalthana for Marathwada and the Ajanta/Ellora circuit — short city hop, single 2008 hall, IndiGo-shaped banks, and no live Priority Pass soft lounge.

Airportist Score

6.1/ 10

Mixed

Ease of use7.4
Comfort & amenities6.0
Food & retail5.4
Ground access7.8
Reliability5.6
Lounges2.0

How the score works

An editorial 0–10 score. The overall is exactly the weighted sum of six traveler categories — not a Google rating and not a poll.

25%Ease of use — Wayfinding, security wait, and layout.
20%Comfort & amenities — Seating, Wi-Fi, cleanliness, and quiet.
15%Food & retail — Food and retail quality and variety.
15%Ground access — Transit, taxi, and parking to the city.
15%Reliability — Delays, cancellations, and weather resilience.
10%Lounges — Worth-it density and access quality.

Compare IXU with another airport

Arrive
2 h
before departure
Typical security
25 min
editorial average, not live
Best way to city
15–30 min
Prepaid taxi
On time
78%
of departures
Passengers / year
0.63M

All airports

IXUVAAUNormal29°C / 84°F

Aurangabad Airport

Aurangabad, India · Asia-Pacific

Compact AAI civil gateway at Chikalthana for Marathwada and the Ajanta/Ellora circuit — short city hop, single 2008 hall, IndiGo-shaped banks, and no live Priority Pass soft lounge.

Airportist Score

6.1/ 10

Mixed

Ease of use7.4
Comfort & amenities6.0
Food & retail5.4
Ground access7.8
Reliability5.6
Lounges2.0

How the score works

An editorial 0–10 score. The overall is exactly the weighted sum of six traveler categories — not a Google rating and not a poll.

25%Ease of use — Wayfinding, security wait, and layout.
20%Comfort & amenities — Seating, Wi-Fi, cleanliness, and quiet.
15%Food & retail — Food and retail quality and variety.
15%Ground access — Transit, taxi, and parking to the city.
15%Reliability — Delays, cancellations, and weather resilience.
10%Lounges — Worth-it density and access quality.

Compare IXU with another airport

8 photos

Aurangabad Airport landside façade with AURANGABAD AIRPORT signage

Aurangabad Airport new terminal building at dusk

Aurangabad Airport integrated terminal landside with gardens

Aurangabad Airport airside apron and aerobridges

Passengers walking airside toward Aurangabad Airport terminal

ATS Complex and control tower at Aurangabad Airport

Aurangabad Airport older landside façade with elevation sign

Interior wayfinding hall at Aurangabad Airport

IXUGuide

Most important tips

Know before you go

A compact traveler cheat sheet for timing, terminals, food, and disruption checks.

Timing

Compact 2008 hall — still budget one strip and thin banks

Short city hop and a compact hall help; one runway and thin banks still need real buffers.

IXU’s November 2008 integrated terminal is easy to read, but the field remains a single-runway AAI station with IndiGo-heavy domestic banks, thinner Air India / Air India Express metal, and FY26 route suspensions that already cut passengers ~10%. DigiYatra is not on mid-2026 Maharashtra live lists (BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG) — keep CISF document queues as Plan A. Domestic ~2 hours early is the sane default. There is no live Priority Pass soft lounge to absorb a long wait.

Terminal

One 2008 integrated hall — no live PP soft pin

Single 2008 passenger hall; zero live PP soft lounges.

Screenshot IXU ≠ BOM ≠ NMI ≠ PNQ ≠ NAG ≠ SAG before the car leaves Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar / Ajanta–Ellora road. All scheduled passengers clear the 21 Nov 2008 integrated terminal (~190,000 sq ft; two aerobridges on public summaries). Runway-extension / rename CGI and “international soon” press are not today’s check-in map. Live Priority Pass soft directory = none.

Food

Landside sealed water is Plan A — no PP soft-lounge drinks

No live PP soft room; landside bottles still beat airside pricing.

Live Priority Pass product is empty for IXU on the national India index. Without a soft-lounge entitlement, buy sealed water and snacks landside before CISF; airside café markup is the usual Indian-airport tax. Ignore Plaza Premium / Primus inventions — live PP directory = none.

Access

Prepaid taxi Plan A — Chikalthana is ~5.5 km, no terminal metro

Short road hop into the city; metro is not at the kerb.

Use official prepaid taxi counters in arrivals or signed Ola / Uber pickup for the Chikalthana run into Kranti Chowk / CIDCO / Prozone / Aurangabad Railway Station (often ~15–30 minutes in normal traffic; confirm the board / app quote). The railway station is a separate road transfer (~11 km). Do not invent an in-terminal metro or rail platform from city transit planning coverage. Ajanta / Ellora day trips need a separate road plan and full-day buffers — they are not “next to the terminal.”

Live conditions

Right now at IXU

Security waits and operational status from official feeds, where the airport publishes them.

Honest verdict

Who this airport works for

Best for

Ajanta / Ellora visitors who want the closest scheduled commercial field
Marathwada business travelers connecting via Mumbai / Delhi / Hyderabad / Bengaluru
Travelers who prefer a single compact hall over a multi-terminal maze

Watch out for

No live Priority Pass soft lounge — ignore aggregator Primus / Plaza inventions
DigiYatra not on mid-2026 Maharashtra live lists (BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG)
FY26 passenger dip and HYD / Goa suspension risk — trust ticket/FIDS
Customs-airport label ≠ durable daily international nonstops
Airport rename politics — boarding passes still commonly say Aurangabad / IXU

Airportist Score

Why this score

Overall is the published weighted sum of six categories. No holistic fudge on top.

Ease of use · 25%

Wayfinding, security wait, and layout.

7.4

Comfort & amenities · 20%

Seating, Wi-Fi, cleanliness, and quiet.

6.0

Food & retail · 15%

Food and retail quality and variety.

5.4

Ground access · 15%

Transit, taxi, and parking to the city.

7.8

Reliability · 15%

Delays, cancellations, and weather resilience.

5.6

Lounges · 10%

Worth-it density and access quality.

2.0

Key stats

Editorial reference figures, not live readings.

Annual passengers

0.63M

On-time departures

78%

Typical security

25 min

Guide quick facts

From the editorial guide for IXU.

Updated Sep 9, 2026

Aurangabad Airport (IATA IXU / ICAO VAAU), still widely called Chikalthana Airport and often marketed under Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city branding, is the main AAI civil passenger gateway for the Marathwada region and the Ajanta / Ellora UNESCO circuit. On AAI FY 2025–26 annex traffic it handled about 0.63 million passengers and ranked among Maharashtra’s busier non-metro fields (local press placed it fourth statewide behind the Mumbai-area / Pune / Nagpur cluster). The campus sits at Chikalthana about 5.5 km east of the city centre and about 11 km from Aurangabad Railway Station along the Aurangabad–Nagpur state highway (Wikipedia / airline directories). Owner/operator is the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Official passenger page pattern: https://www.aai.aero/en/airports/aurangabad. Screenshot IXU (VAAU) ≠ BOM / NMI Mumbai ≠ PNQ Pune ≠ NAG Nagpur ≠ SAG Shirdi ≠ JLR Jabalpur — the wrong Maharashtra IATA is a multi-hour road or extra flight day, not an airside hop. This is a pure AAI public civil field (not a passenger enclave on an active naval or air-force base).
One integrated passenger terminal (inaugurated 21 November 2008 by then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel; public facility summaries ~190,000 sq ft / ~17,650–20,500 m² class footprint depending whether technical block is counted; two aerobridges; central AC / escalators / lifts / in-line baggage on period upgrade coverage) handles all scheduled passenger flows. Treat runway-extension / parallel-taxiway / “international starting soon” blogs and rename CGI as planning context — not a second live passenger campus. A December 2025 central rename order toward “Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Airport” was later reported on hold by AAI amid the competing “Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport” state proposal — boarding passes and AAI still commonly say Aurangabad / IXU.
Traffic (AAI annexes for FY 2025–26 / 1 Apr 2025–31 Mar 2026, as compiled on Wikipedia from archived Mar2k26 Annex II–IV PDFs and confirmed in the PDF text): 628,152 passengers (−10.3%), 5,360 aircraft movements (−20.6%), and 1,362.6 t cargo (+48.9%). Prefer AAI annex PDFs when auditing. Airport director S. B. Yewale’s mid-2026 briefings tied the passenger/movement dip to private-airline suspensions on Hyderabad and Goa — trust annex digits for audits and the ticket / FIDS for today’s bank. International passenger columns in the same annexes print zero for Aurangabad; customs-airport status is not proof of durable daily foreign nonstops.
Airfield (Wikipedia technical summaries for VAAU): single runway 09/27 — 2,835 m × concrete/asphalt; aerodrome elevation about 582 m / 1,917 ft. Do not invent a second passenger runway from land-acquisition / 3,660 m extension blogs. DigiYatra is not confirmed live here — mid-2026 public DigiYatra airport lists for Maharashtra cite BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG without IXU. Plan CISF document queues as the safe default.
Lounges (live Priority Pass India directory, checked Sep 2026): Aurangabad / Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar / IXU is not listed as an airport heading with a soft-lounge pin. Live PP soft directory = none — do not invent Plaza Premium / Primus / Travel Club / Airr / Encalm soft pins from aggregator mirrors. Any AAI CIP / invite room is a separate paid or invite product, not a Priority Pass entitlement.
Ground: prepaid taxi / signed app cabs remain Plan A for the short Chikalthana run into Kranti Chowk / CIDCO / Railway Station (often ~15–30 minutes in normal traffic; confirm the board / app quote). There is no passenger rail or metro platform inside the terminal. Late nights default to prepaid / app cabs. BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG remain the usual diversion / alternate hubs when weather or schedule shocks constrain the single strip — those are separate airports, not airside hops.

12 official sources

Full guide

Explore the IXU guide

Each section answers one trip question in depth.

Alternatives

Nearby airports

Passenger airports within about 150 km. Scored airports show their Airportist Score so you can weigh a switch.

SAGShirdi Airport
Shirdi
107 km

IXUGuide

Most important tips

Know before you go

A compact traveler cheat sheet for timing, terminals, food, and disruption checks.

Timing

Compact 2008 hall — still budget one strip and thin banks

Short city hop and a compact hall help; one runway and thin banks still need real buffers.

Terminal

One 2008 integrated hall — no live PP soft pin

Single 2008 passenger hall; zero live PP soft lounges.

Food

Landside sealed water is Plan A — no PP soft-lounge drinks

No live PP soft room; landside bottles still beat airside pricing.

Access

Prepaid taxi Plan A — Chikalthana is ~5.5 km, no terminal metro

Short road hop into the city; metro is not at the kerb.

Live conditions

Right now at IXU

Security waits and operational status from official feeds, where the airport publishes them.

Honest verdict

Who this airport works for

Best for

Ajanta / Ellora visitors who want the closest scheduled commercial field
Marathwada business travelers connecting via Mumbai / Delhi / Hyderabad / Bengaluru
Travelers who prefer a single compact hall over a multi-terminal maze

Watch out for

No live Priority Pass soft lounge — ignore aggregator Primus / Plaza inventions
DigiYatra not on mid-2026 Maharashtra live lists (BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG)
FY26 passenger dip and HYD / Goa suspension risk — trust ticket/FIDS
Customs-airport label ≠ durable daily international nonstops
Airport rename politics — boarding passes still commonly say Aurangabad / IXU

Airportist Score

Why this score

Overall is the published weighted sum of six categories. No holistic fudge on top.

Ease of use · 25%

Wayfinding, security wait, and layout.

7.4

Comfort & amenities · 20%

Seating, Wi-Fi, cleanliness, and quiet.

6.0

Food & retail · 15%

Food and retail quality and variety.

5.4

Ground access · 15%

Transit, taxi, and parking to the city.

7.8

Reliability · 15%

Delays, cancellations, and weather resilience.

5.6

Lounges · 10%

Worth-it density and access quality.

2.0

Key stats

Editorial reference figures, not live readings.

Annual passengers

0.63M

On-time departures

78%

Typical security

25 min

Guide quick facts

From the editorial guide for IXU.

Updated Sep 9, 2026

Aurangabad Airport (IATA IXU / ICAO VAAU), still widely called Chikalthana Airport and often marketed under Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city branding, is the main AAI civil passenger gateway for the Marathwada region and the Ajanta / Ellora UNESCO circuit. On AAI FY 2025–26 annex traffic it handled about 0.63 million passengers and ranked among Maharashtra’s busier non-metro fields (local press placed it fourth statewide behind the Mumbai-area / Pune / Nagpur cluster). The campus sits at Chikalthana about 5.5 km east of the city centre and about 11 km from Aurangabad Railway Station along the Aurangabad–Nagpur state highway (Wikipedia / airline directories). Owner/operator is the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Official passenger page pattern: https://www.aai.aero/en/airports/aurangabad. Screenshot IXU (VAAU) ≠ BOM / NMI Mumbai ≠ PNQ Pune ≠ NAG Nagpur ≠ SAG Shirdi ≠ JLR Jabalpur — the wrong Maharashtra IATA is a multi-hour road or extra flight day, not an airside hop. This is a pure AAI public civil field (not a passenger enclave on an active naval or air-force base).
One integrated passenger terminal (inaugurated 21 November 2008 by then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel; public facility summaries ~190,000 sq ft / ~17,650–20,500 m² class footprint depending whether technical block is counted; two aerobridges; central AC / escalators / lifts / in-line baggage on period upgrade coverage) handles all scheduled passenger flows. Treat runway-extension / parallel-taxiway / “international starting soon” blogs and rename CGI as planning context — not a second live passenger campus. A December 2025 central rename order toward “Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Airport” was later reported on hold by AAI amid the competing “Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport” state proposal — boarding passes and AAI still commonly say Aurangabad / IXU.
Traffic (AAI annexes for FY 2025–26 / 1 Apr 2025–31 Mar 2026, as compiled on Wikipedia from archived Mar2k26 Annex II–IV PDFs and confirmed in the PDF text): 628,152 passengers (−10.3%), 5,360 aircraft movements (−20.6%), and 1,362.6 t cargo (+48.9%). Prefer AAI annex PDFs when auditing. Airport director S. B. Yewale’s mid-2026 briefings tied the passenger/movement dip to private-airline suspensions on Hyderabad and Goa — trust annex digits for audits and the ticket / FIDS for today’s bank. International passenger columns in the same annexes print zero for Aurangabad; customs-airport status is not proof of durable daily foreign nonstops.
Airfield (Wikipedia technical summaries for VAAU): single runway 09/27 — 2,835 m × concrete/asphalt; aerodrome elevation about 582 m / 1,917 ft. Do not invent a second passenger runway from land-acquisition / 3,660 m extension blogs. DigiYatra is not confirmed live here — mid-2026 public DigiYatra airport lists for Maharashtra cite BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG without IXU. Plan CISF document queues as the safe default.
Lounges (live Priority Pass India directory, checked Sep 2026): Aurangabad / Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar / IXU is not listed as an airport heading with a soft-lounge pin. Live PP soft directory = none — do not invent Plaza Premium / Primus / Travel Club / Airr / Encalm soft pins from aggregator mirrors. Any AAI CIP / invite room is a separate paid or invite product, not a Priority Pass entitlement.
Ground: prepaid taxi / signed app cabs remain Plan A for the short Chikalthana run into Kranti Chowk / CIDCO / Railway Station (often ~15–30 minutes in normal traffic; confirm the board / app quote). There is no passenger rail or metro platform inside the terminal. Late nights default to prepaid / app cabs. BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG remain the usual diversion / alternate hubs when weather or schedule shocks constrain the single strip — those are separate airports, not airside hops.

12 official sources

Full guide

Explore the IXU guide

Each section answers one trip question in depth.

IXUGuide

Lounge & amenity notes

Lounge, food, and quiet-spot picks pulled from the markdown guide.

From Lounges, Food & Amenities

Live Priority Pass soft lounge = none. Checked Sep 2026: Priority Pass’s India index has no Aurangabad / Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar / IXU soft-lounge airport page. Do not invent Plaza Premium / Primus / Travel Club / Airr / Encalm pins from aggregator mirrors. Period upgrade coverage mentions a CIP section — treat that as invite / paid operator product, not PP.
Food & retail: Typical compact Tier-2 Indian mix in the 2008 hall — café / snack counters, not a full mall. Landside sealed water beats deep airside impulse pricing.
Seating / Wi-Fi / MIR: Expect standard AAI passenger-facing Wi-Fi / seating / first-aid arrangements in a single integrated hall — confirm live boards on the day rather than brochure amenity grids.
DigiYatra: Not on mid-2026 Maharashtra live lists (BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG). Confirm the DigiYatra app before you skip the manual CISF queue; default to documents.

IXUGuide

Most important tips

Know before you go

A compact traveler cheat sheet for timing, terminals, food, and disruption checks.

Timing

Compact 2008 hall — still budget one strip and thin banks

Short city hop and a compact hall help; one runway and thin banks still need real buffers.

Terminal

One 2008 integrated hall — no live PP soft pin

Single 2008 passenger hall; zero live PP soft lounges.

Food

Landside sealed water is Plan A — no PP soft-lounge drinks

No live PP soft room; landside bottles still beat airside pricing.

Access

Prepaid taxi Plan A — Chikalthana is ~5.5 km, no terminal metro

Short road hop into the city; metro is not at the kerb.

Live conditions

Right now at IXU

Security waits and operational status from official feeds, where the airport publishes them.

Honest verdict

Who this airport works for

Best for

Ajanta / Ellora visitors who want the closest scheduled commercial field
Marathwada business travelers connecting via Mumbai / Delhi / Hyderabad / Bengaluru
Travelers who prefer a single compact hall over a multi-terminal maze

Watch out for

No live Priority Pass soft lounge — ignore aggregator Primus / Plaza inventions
DigiYatra not on mid-2026 Maharashtra live lists (BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG)
FY26 passenger dip and HYD / Goa suspension risk — trust ticket/FIDS
Customs-airport label ≠ durable daily international nonstops
Airport rename politics — boarding passes still commonly say Aurangabad / IXU

Airportist Score

Why this score

Overall is the published weighted sum of six categories. No holistic fudge on top.

Ease of use · 25%

Wayfinding, security wait, and layout.

7.4

Comfort & amenities · 20%

Seating, Wi-Fi, cleanliness, and quiet.

6.0

Food & retail · 15%

Food and retail quality and variety.

5.4

Ground access · 15%

Transit, taxi, and parking to the city.

7.8

Reliability · 15%

Delays, cancellations, and weather resilience.

5.6

Lounges · 10%

Worth-it density and access quality.

2.0

Key stats

Editorial reference figures, not live readings.

Annual passengers

0.63M

On-time departures

78%

Typical security

25 min

Guide quick facts

From the editorial guide for IXU.

Updated Sep 9, 2026

Aurangabad Airport (IATA IXU / ICAO VAAU), still widely called Chikalthana Airport and often marketed under Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city branding, is the main AAI civil passenger gateway for the Marathwada region and the Ajanta / Ellora UNESCO circuit. On AAI FY 2025–26 annex traffic it handled about 0.63 million passengers and ranked among Maharashtra’s busier non-metro fields (local press placed it fourth statewide behind the Mumbai-area / Pune / Nagpur cluster). The campus sits at Chikalthana about 5.5 km east of the city centre and about 11 km from Aurangabad Railway Station along the Aurangabad–Nagpur state highway (Wikipedia / airline directories). Owner/operator is the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Official passenger page pattern: https://www.aai.aero/en/airports/aurangabad. Screenshot IXU (VAAU) ≠ BOM / NMI Mumbai ≠ PNQ Pune ≠ NAG Nagpur ≠ SAG Shirdi ≠ JLR Jabalpur — the wrong Maharashtra IATA is a multi-hour road or extra flight day, not an airside hop. This is a pure AAI public civil field (not a passenger enclave on an active naval or air-force base).
One integrated passenger terminal (inaugurated 21 November 2008 by then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel; public facility summaries ~190,000 sq ft / ~17,650–20,500 m² class footprint depending whether technical block is counted; two aerobridges; central AC / escalators / lifts / in-line baggage on period upgrade coverage) handles all scheduled passenger flows. Treat runway-extension / parallel-taxiway / “international starting soon” blogs and rename CGI as planning context — not a second live passenger campus. A December 2025 central rename order toward “Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Airport” was later reported on hold by AAI amid the competing “Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport” state proposal — boarding passes and AAI still commonly say Aurangabad / IXU.
Traffic (AAI annexes for FY 2025–26 / 1 Apr 2025–31 Mar 2026, as compiled on Wikipedia from archived Mar2k26 Annex II–IV PDFs and confirmed in the PDF text): 628,152 passengers (−10.3%), 5,360 aircraft movements (−20.6%), and 1,362.6 t cargo (+48.9%). Prefer AAI annex PDFs when auditing. Airport director S. B. Yewale’s mid-2026 briefings tied the passenger/movement dip to private-airline suspensions on Hyderabad and Goa — trust annex digits for audits and the ticket / FIDS for today’s bank. International passenger columns in the same annexes print zero for Aurangabad; customs-airport status is not proof of durable daily foreign nonstops.
Airfield (Wikipedia technical summaries for VAAU): single runway 09/27 — 2,835 m × concrete/asphalt; aerodrome elevation about 582 m / 1,917 ft. Do not invent a second passenger runway from land-acquisition / 3,660 m extension blogs. DigiYatra is not confirmed live here — mid-2026 public DigiYatra airport lists for Maharashtra cite BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG without IXU. Plan CISF document queues as the safe default.
Lounges (live Priority Pass India directory, checked Sep 2026): Aurangabad / Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar / IXU is not listed as an airport heading with a soft-lounge pin. Live PP soft directory = none — do not invent Plaza Premium / Primus / Travel Club / Airr / Encalm soft pins from aggregator mirrors. Any AAI CIP / invite room is a separate paid or invite product, not a Priority Pass entitlement.
Ground: prepaid taxi / signed app cabs remain Plan A for the short Chikalthana run into Kranti Chowk / CIDCO / Railway Station (often ~15–30 minutes in normal traffic; confirm the board / app quote). There is no passenger rail or metro platform inside the terminal. Late nights default to prepaid / app cabs. BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG remain the usual diversion / alternate hubs when weather or schedule shocks constrain the single strip — those are separate airports, not airside hops.

12 official sources

Full guide

Explore the IXU guide

Each section answers one trip question in depth.

IXUGuide

Lounge & amenity notes

Lounge, food, and quiet-spot picks pulled from the markdown guide.

From Lounges, Food & Amenities

Live Priority Pass soft lounge = none. Checked Sep 2026: Priority Pass’s India index has no Aurangabad / Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar / IXU soft-lounge airport page. Do not invent Plaza Premium / Primus / Travel Club / Airr / Encalm pins from aggregator mirrors. Period upgrade coverage mentions a CIP section — treat that as invite / paid operator product, not PP.
Food & retail: Typical compact Tier-2 Indian mix in the 2008 hall — café / snack counters, not a full mall. Landside sealed water beats deep airside impulse pricing.
Seating / Wi-Fi / MIR: Expect standard AAI passenger-facing Wi-Fi / seating / first-aid arrangements in a single integrated hall — confirm live boards on the day rather than brochure amenity grids.
DigiYatra: Not on mid-2026 Maharashtra live lists (BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG). Confirm the DigiYatra app before you skip the manual CISF queue; default to documents.

IXUGuide

Most important tips

Know before you go

A compact traveler cheat sheet for timing, terminals, food, and disruption checks.

Timing

Compact 2008 hall — still budget one strip and thin banks

Short city hop and a compact hall help; one runway and thin banks still need real buffers.

Terminal

One 2008 integrated hall — no live PP soft pin

Single 2008 passenger hall; zero live PP soft lounges.

Food

Landside sealed water is Plan A — no PP soft-lounge drinks

No live PP soft room; landside bottles still beat airside pricing.

Access

Prepaid taxi Plan A — Chikalthana is ~5.5 km, no terminal metro

Short road hop into the city; metro is not at the kerb.

Live conditions

Right now at IXU

Security waits and operational status from official feeds, where the airport publishes them.

Security wait times

Current security wait information is not available for this airport. Check the airport's official website or app before travel.

Official airport site

Operational status

Normal operations

No Flighty-reported operational issues for this airport.

Source: Flighty Airports

Status response Sep 9, 10:03 UTC · Confirm live conditions with official sources before travel.

Honest verdict

Who this airport works for

Best for

Ajanta / Ellora visitors who want the closest scheduled commercial field
Marathwada business travelers connecting via Mumbai / Delhi / Hyderabad / Bengaluru
Travelers who prefer a single compact hall over a multi-terminal maze

Watch out for

No live Priority Pass soft lounge — ignore aggregator Primus / Plaza inventions
DigiYatra not on mid-2026 Maharashtra live lists (BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG)
FY26 passenger dip and HYD / Goa suspension risk — trust ticket/FIDS
Customs-airport label ≠ durable daily international nonstops
Airport rename politics — boarding passes still commonly say Aurangabad / IXU

Airportist Score

Why this score

Overall is the published weighted sum of six categories. No holistic fudge on top.

Ease of use · 25%

Wayfinding, security wait, and layout.

7.4

Comfort & amenities · 20%

Seating, Wi-Fi, cleanliness, and quiet.

6.0

Food & retail · 15%

Food and retail quality and variety.

5.4

Ground access · 15%

Transit, taxi, and parking to the city.

7.8

Reliability · 15%

Delays, cancellations, and weather resilience.

5.6

Lounges · 10%

Worth-it density and access quality.

2.0

Key stats

Editorial reference figures, not live readings.

Annual passengers

0.63M

On-time departures

78%

Typical security

25 min

Guide quick facts

From the editorial guide for IXU.

Updated Sep 9, 2026

Aurangabad Airport (IATA IXU / ICAO VAAU), still widely called Chikalthana Airport and often marketed under Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city branding, is the main AAI civil passenger gateway for the Marathwada region and the Ajanta / Ellora UNESCO circuit. On AAI FY 2025–26 annex traffic it handled about 0.63 million passengers and ranked among Maharashtra’s busier non-metro fields (local press placed it fourth statewide behind the Mumbai-area / Pune / Nagpur cluster). The campus sits at Chikalthana about 5.5 km east of the city centre and about 11 km from Aurangabad Railway Station along the Aurangabad–Nagpur state highway (Wikipedia / airline directories). Owner/operator is the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Official passenger page pattern: https://www.aai.aero/en/airports/aurangabad. Screenshot IXU (VAAU) ≠ BOM / NMI Mumbai ≠ PNQ Pune ≠ NAG Nagpur ≠ SAG Shirdi ≠ JLR Jabalpur — the wrong Maharashtra IATA is a multi-hour road or extra flight day, not an airside hop. This is a pure AAI public civil field (not a passenger enclave on an active naval or air-force base).
One integrated passenger terminal (inaugurated 21 November 2008 by then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh and Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel; public facility summaries ~190,000 sq ft / ~17,650–20,500 m² class footprint depending whether technical block is counted; two aerobridges; central AC / escalators / lifts / in-line baggage on period upgrade coverage) handles all scheduled passenger flows. Treat runway-extension / parallel-taxiway / “international starting soon” blogs and rename CGI as planning context — not a second live passenger campus. A December 2025 central rename order toward “Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Airport” was later reported on hold by AAI amid the competing “Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport” state proposal — boarding passes and AAI still commonly say Aurangabad / IXU.
Traffic (AAI annexes for FY 2025–26 / 1 Apr 2025–31 Mar 2026, as compiled on Wikipedia from archived Mar2k26 Annex II–IV PDFs and confirmed in the PDF text): 628,152 passengers (−10.3%), 5,360 aircraft movements (−20.6%), and 1,362.6 t cargo (+48.9%). Prefer AAI annex PDFs when auditing. Airport director S. B. Yewale’s mid-2026 briefings tied the passenger/movement dip to private-airline suspensions on Hyderabad and Goa — trust annex digits for audits and the ticket / FIDS for today’s bank. International passenger columns in the same annexes print zero for Aurangabad; customs-airport status is not proof of durable daily foreign nonstops.
Airfield (Wikipedia technical summaries for VAAU): single runway 09/27 — 2,835 m × concrete/asphalt; aerodrome elevation about 582 m / 1,917 ft. Do not invent a second passenger runway from land-acquisition / 3,660 m extension blogs. DigiYatra is not confirmed live here — mid-2026 public DigiYatra airport lists for Maharashtra cite BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG without IXU. Plan CISF document queues as the safe default.
Lounges (live Priority Pass India directory, checked Sep 2026): Aurangabad / Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar / IXU is not listed as an airport heading with a soft-lounge pin. Live PP soft directory = none — do not invent Plaza Premium / Primus / Travel Club / Airr / Encalm soft pins from aggregator mirrors. Any AAI CIP / invite room is a separate paid or invite product, not a Priority Pass entitlement.
Ground: prepaid taxi / signed app cabs remain Plan A for the short Chikalthana run into Kranti Chowk / CIDCO / Railway Station (often ~15–30 minutes in normal traffic; confirm the board / app quote). There is no passenger rail or metro platform inside the terminal. Late nights default to prepaid / app cabs. BOM / NMI / PNQ / NAG remain the usual diversion / alternate hubs when weather or schedule shocks constrain the single strip — those are separate airports, not airside hops.

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