Juhu Aerodrome (ICAO: VAJJ) an airport serving Mumbai (formerly Bombay), was India's first civil aviation airport opening in 1928 as the then Vile Parle Flying Club. J. R. D. Tata, the father of civil aviation in India made India's maiden voyage from Juhu airport to Drigh Road airstrip, Karachi, via Ahmedabad, on October 15, 1932. The airport served as the city's sole airport till Santacruz airport, now Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport took over in 1958. Santacruz was a Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) base during the WWII (1939-45).
Juhu has one runway (08/26, 3750 ft/1143 m) and is run by the Airports Authority of India. It hosts a flying club with several executive and light aircraft, gliders, and a heliport to ferry Oil and Natural Gas Corporation personnel by carrier Pawan Hans to offshore oil rigs at Bombay High. The airfield is located at Juhu, an upmarket residential suburb of northwest Mumbai flanking the city's Juhu Beach along the Arabian sea.
Juhu Aerodrome