Passengers make it early to catch flights

Akash Ghai

Tribune News Service

Mohali, August 25 

Panic-stricken passengers started pouring in at International Airport in Mohali since early this morning. 

“Even those, who have their flights, scheduled in the evening, started reaching the airport,” said an official at the airport adding that the airport witnessed great hustle and bustle throughout the day, which is unusual on any other normal days. 

“Surely, most of the passengers were panic-stricken. A number of passengers started reaching here early this morning for obvious reasons. Many of them have flights in evening,” said Inspector HS Ball, Station House Officer of the Airport police station. 

A Ludhiana resident, Dheeraj Bansal, who came to the airport to see-off his friend, said that his friend had to board a flight in the evening but reached the airport in the morning only. “We knew that anything could happen today. So we took no chance,” said Dheeraj. 

He said like them, a number of persons have reached the airport much ahead of their flights’ schedule. 

Security ramped up

Security was beefed up in and around the airport immediately after large scale violence and arson erupted in Panchkula. Inspector Ball claimed that the security arrangements at the airport have been intensified. The number of ‘nakas’ on all the roads, leading to the local airport, were also increased. 

Airfare to Delhi touches Rs 6,500

The airfare from here to Delhi continued be high. The air tickets from Chandigarh were available at around Rs 6,500 Friday against the normal price ranging between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,500. Yesterday, the ticket prices had crossed the figure of Rs 15,000. A staff of private airlines claimed that a number of passengers cancelled their tickets today, especially after the court verdict.