Come mid-Feb, fly to Dubai from city

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 21

The IndiGo is on the verge of starting the first direct international flight from the Civil Air Terminal, Chandigarh, in February, confirmed local authorities. The destination will be Dubai.

A meeting was held between IndiGo officials, Airport Authority of India (AAI) officials and representatives of the Civil Aviation Ministry, New Delhi, at the Chandigarh airport on December 19.

The officials were here to see the possibility of starting the new venture at the earliest. During the meeting, the representatives of IndiGo stated that they would like to start the new venture in the mid of February when there would be no fog.

Sources said the first flight between Chandigarh and Dubai will take off on February 18, after the announcement of the new flight schedule. However, IndiGo officials did not officially confirm this.

The flight is expected to depart from Chandigarh at 1.10 pm and reach Dubai at 5.20 pm. “The first international flight will start after the announcement of the next flight schedule on February 15. Officials were here to study the possibilities. Hopefully, the procedure to start the international venture will be completed soon. Expect the first international flight from the new terminal in the month of February,” confirmed Suneel Dutt, CEO, Chandigarh international airport.

The IndiGo had already been operating an indirect flight from Chandigarh to Dubai with a four-hour layover in Mumbai till November last. The operation stands cancelled till February 16. The fare was Rs 13,235 (approx).

The ticket price of the new direct flight is expected to be nearly the same.

While IndiGo officials are not ready to confirm the development, they are not denying it too.

“The plans are being pondered over since long. Now, we are hoping to execute them coming February,” stated an official, who attended the meeting on the behalf of the airline.

Currently, 17 domestic flights are operating from the newly built international terminal.

Looking forward to hold operations in low visibility

Apart from introducing new flights, the airport is looking forward to getting the CAT-II or CAT-III Instrument Landing System (ILS) to operate in low visibility. At present, the operations take place under the CAT-I ILS system. Also, the runway is being upgraded for full-sized wide-bodied aircraft and it will take two years to complete. The upgraded runway will extend operations to far-off international destinations.