Surat Fun Fact
About 90% of the world’s diamonds are cut and polished in Surat, giving Surat the very fitting name of “Diamond City.”
Departure Airport: Dabolim Airport (GOI/VOGO)
Arrival Airport: Surat Airport (STV/VASU) @MJMN summon
Airline: Indigo
Aircraft: Airbus A321neo
Flight Time: 57 minutes
Server: Expert
Pushing back under the bright afternoon sun. Dabolim Airport is buzzing with aircraft and construction crews as they undergo a major expansion.
Departing over the beaches that make Goa world-famous
We’ll be flying parallel to India’s western coast for the entire flight today.
Cruise is just 32,000 feet, and we reached that altitude just south of Ratnagiri, a historic port city in the southwestern corner of the state of Maharashtra.
Much of the coastline is rural farmland, like we can see below. Coastal Maharashtra grows a plethora of crops, including rice, millet, mangoes, cashews, and pepper.
Starting our initial descent directly above Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
The water along this particular stretch is a muddy brown, owing to the sediment pouring out from the Tapi River into the ocean.
Turning final over the city of Surat, home to over 8 million people. It’s Gujarat’s second-largest settlement, after Ahmedabad.
Welcome to Diamond City!
Despite being more populous than New York City, Surat’s Airport has just a few gates and a handful of destinations on three carriers. Its sole international link is Indigo’s to Dubai. Mostly, the flights are feeders into bigger airports like Chennai, Delhi, or Hyderabad, where travelers can more easily continue their journey. Mumbai is also less than three hours by train, so it’s conceivable that a lot of air traffic ends up there.
