Surat Airport was built by the state government of Gujarat in early 1970s. The first airline to operate was Safari Airways (owned by Vijaypat Singhania of Raymonds group) with flights to Bombay and Bhavnagar with small aircraft, most probably a Douglas DC-3 Dakota in the early 1970s, which was eventually discontinued in a year or two. During the 1990s, Vayudoot and Gujarat Airways flew to Surat Airport, but discontinued their flights in May 1994 and January 2000, respectively. The airport, with a airstrip and an adjoining apron was then transferred to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in 2003, who began to modernise the airport. After a failed initial attempt in July 2004 to connect Surat with Mumbai and Bhavnagar due to poor airport infrastructure, the now defunct airline Air Deccan operated an ATR 42 aircraft daily from November 2004 to July 2005.