The central government is planning to connect small cities to big cities and the initiative taken by the government to start flights from Shirdi Airport to international destinations will be of great convenience for the devotees coming especially for Shirdi temple visit.
Pilgrimage tourism is an important industry in Maharashtra and starting direct flights from Shirdi Airport to international destinations will help in alleviating tourism as well. If you start international flights from cities like Shirdi, Nanded, Kolhapur, then devotees from abroad will visit these cities also. Shirdi Airport has recently started its operations and has been seeing a tremendous increase in tourism. From there, the necessary facilities are available for international air services. Shirdi to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur flights will be rolled out shortly.
Shirdi Airport is located at Kakadi village, about 14 km South-west of the town of Shirdi in Maharashtra, India, which is 15km from the main Shirdi Sai Baba temple and other key religious shrines in the town. The functioning of direct flights to Shirdi from Mumbai and Hyderabad had given a huge tourism boost and it is expected that the recent initiative will also help in promoting tourism to Shirdi.