Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport is an international airport serving Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is located at Raja Sansi, 11 km (7 mi) north-west from the city centre. It is named after Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru and the founder of Amritsar. The airport is the largest and the busiest airport of Punjab. It is the second-largest airport in Northern India after Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. The airport was the 3rd fastest-growing airport in India during the fiscal year 2017–18. It is a hub of cargo movements, domestically and internationally. The airport is ranked the 6th-best regional airport in India and Central Asia in 2019 and 2020 by Skytrax. The airport is awarded as the best airport in Asia-Pacific in 2020 (2 to 5 million passengers per annum) by Airports Council International. History In 1930, the airport was established during the British era, and was used for VVIP movements. After independence, it got connected with Delhi and Srinagar. The first international flight to Kabul was launched in 1960. In January 1982, Air India started a flight from Bombay (now Mumbai) to Birmingham with stops in Delhi and Moscow. The service linked the large North Indian population in the West Midlands to its homeland and was operated by Boeing 707s. However, the airline terminated it in October 1984 amid the Punjab insurgency. Using Boeing 777 aircraft, Air India operated services to Toronto via Birmingham in May 2005. The stopover changed to London in 2008. Two years later, however, the carrier replaced the route with a direct flight from its Delhi hub to Toronto. In November 2010, the airport's name was changed to Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport. The following October, British Midland International (BMI) launched a connection to London via Almaty with an Airbus A330 aircraft. Nevertheless, the flight was discontinued in October 2012 as a consequence of the merger between BMI and British Airways. Air India resumed nonstop services to Birmingham in February 2018, this time using Boeing 787s. The airport is now connected with Rome, Milan, Tbilisi (as a stopover), Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Sharjah, Tashkent, Dubai, Doha and Malé as a seasonal route. Facilities In July 2001, the construction of the first phase of the terminal building started, along with the extension of the existing runway, construction of a new Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower and other works. The construction