Many Indian airports carry a formal name that differs from the city or the local name most travellers use, usually honouring a historical figure. Varanasi’s airport is Lal Bahadur Shastri International (VNS), Prayagraj’s is at Bamrauli (IXD), Navi Mumbai’s new airport is Loknete D B Patil International (NMI), and Chennai keeps the code MAA from its former name, Madras.
Updated October 2026 · HappyFares
Booking a flight in India means dealing with airport names that rarely match what people actually call the city, plus IATA codes that can look unrelated to either name. Here is a city-by-city reference, verified against the Airports Authority of India and the relevant airport operator.
Why do Indian airport names not match the city name?
Most of India’s bigger airports have been formally renamed after a national or regional figure at some point since independence, while locals and most booking sites still refer to the airport by the city it serves. The three-letter IATA code attached to each airport is separate again, often inherited from an older name, a nearby town, or simply assigned by convention when the code the city’s own name would suggest was already taken by another airport worldwide.
What are the official names for the smaller or newer airports?
Varanasi’s airport is officially Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport, named after India’s second prime minister; locals commonly call it Babatpur, after the village 26 km from the city where it is located. Prayagraj’s airport, serving the city still widely known by its earlier name Allahabad, sits within the Bamrauli Air Force Station as a civil enclave and is coded IXD; you will see it listed as Prayagraj, Allahabad or Bamrauli. Bagdogra, coded IXB, is the main gateway to North Bengal and the hill towns around Siliguri, Darjeeling and Gangtok, and it operates as a civil enclave inside an Indian Air Force base rather than under a separate honorific name. Ayodhya’s airport is Maharishi Valmiki International, coded AYJ, inaugurated in December 2023 and named after the sage traditionally credited as the author of the Ramayana. Port Blair’s airport is Veer Savarkar International, coded IXZ, named after the independence-era figure Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
What is Navi Mumbai’s airport actually called?
The new airport serving Navi Mumbai has been formally approved for naming after the farmers’ leader Dinkar Balu Patil, known as D B Patil, who led land-related protests in the Raigad area decades ago during the airport’s early land acquisition. Its full official name is Loknete D B Patil Navi Mumbai International Airport, and it carries the IATA code NMI. Most travellers and booking platforms will keep calling it Navi Mumbai International Airport or NMIA in everyday use, and that is a safe way to refer to it even though the formal name honours D B Patil specifically.
What are the official names for India’s biggest metro airports?
Mumbai’s airport is Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, coded BOM, a code inherited from the city’s former name Bombay. Delhi’s is Indira Gandhi International Airport, coded DEL. Bengaluru’s is Kempegowda International Airport, coded BLR, named after the city’s 16th-century founder. Hyderabad’s is Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, coded HYD, located at Shamshabad outside the city. Kolkata’s is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, coded CCU, a code carried over from the airport’s earlier name, Dum Dum.
Why is Chennai’s code MAA, and does Puri have its own airport?
Chennai’s airport code is MAA, a direct holdover from the city’s name before 1996, Madras; the more intuitive code MAD was already assigned to Madrid, so Madras became MAA instead. Puri, the Odisha pilgrimage town, has no airport of its own. The nearest airport to Puri is in the state capital, Bhubaneswar, officially Biju Patnaik International Airport, coded BBI, roughly an hour and a half away by road.
For more on how three-letter codes get assigned in India, see our guide to Indian airport codes and why Bengaluru is BLR.
Common Questions
Should I search flights using the city name or the official airport name?
Use the city name or the three-letter IATA code; virtually every booking flow accepts either, and you rarely need the full official airport name to search or book.
Is Prayagraj airport the same as Allahabad airport?
Yes. The city was renamed Prayagraj in 2018, but the airport code, IXD, did not change along with the city name.
Why does Bagdogra not have a person’s name attached to it?
Unlike many Indian airports, Bagdogra has not been formally renamed after an individual; it continues to be known by the name of the area it is located in, and it functions as a civil enclave within an Indian Air Force station.
Does Varanasi airport’s code VNS come from its old name?
VNS reflects the city name Varanasi itself, even though the airport’s full official name now honours Lal Bahadur Shastri rather than the city.
Is Navi Mumbai airport’s code NMI or something else?
NMI is the code assigned to the new Navi Mumbai airport. Because the airport opened only recently, double-check the code shown at the time you book, since very new airports occasionally see code or listing changes settle in the first months of operation.
Why do some airports keep old codes after a city is renamed?
IATA codes are not automatically updated when a city changes its name, since changing a code disrupts ticketing, baggage and airline systems worldwide. Chennai (MAA) and Mumbai (BOM) both kept codes tied to their former names for this reason.
Flying into any of these airports? Search flights on HappyFares using the city name or the airport code, whichever you remember, and compare timings before you book.
Airport names and codes are updated from time to time. Verify current specifics with the Airports Authority of India or the airport operator before you travel.
