Int’l airport authorities ask Centre to foot security bill

CHANDIGARH: With the high cost of security at the international airport in Mohali eating into the profitability of the Chandigarh International Airport Limited, the board of directors of the airport has asked the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to bear the expense.

The newly constructed international airport in Mohali. Tribune file photo

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 18

With the high cost of security at the international airport in Mohali eating into the profitability of the Chandigarh International Airport Limited, the board of directors of the airport has asked the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to bear the expense.

The decision was taken during a recent meeting of the board of directors. The financial status of the recently commissioned international airport, growth in passenger traffic and the future expansion plans of the airport were also discussed during this meeting.

An official in the Department of Civil Aviation, Punjab, requesting anonymity, said the board of directors was informed that the annual cost of the Central Industrial Security Force deployed at the airport was Rs 30 crore. Against this, the airport authorities are able to recover just Rs 7.5 crore from the passengers, as an amount of Rs 150 per ticket of a passenger flying out of Chandigarh is charged for the security. The remaining Rs 22.5 crore cost of security is being borne by Chandigarh International Airport Limited, from the profit it has started earning now.

“Though, despite bearing the cost of security, we are in profit in just over a year after the airport was made operational, the profit is not enough for the physical expansion of the airport. We are looking at adding another terminal at the airport soon as the passenger traffic is witnessing a steady growth rate. The passenger traffic is expected to increase from 1.5 million last year to over 1.7 million by the end of March. The directors thus decided to seek financial assistance for the security cost from the Ministry of Home Affairs,” said a senior official in Chandigarh International Airport Limited.

As of now, 24 domestic flights and two international flights (Dubai and Sharjah) fly from this airport. Officials at the airport say that two new flights – to Singapore and Bangkok — will also be commissioned by May.