Runway repair: Nine flights to be cancelled

Pavneet Singh Chadha

Tribune News Service 

Mohali, September 25

Nine flights will be cancelled on account of runway work at the Chandigarh International Airport.

According to the tentative summer flight schedule to be applicable from October 3-28, 27 flights will operate from Chandigarh instead of 36, with the implementation of the new watch hours.

The new watch hours of the airport from Monday to Saturday will be from 5 am to 4 pm and the airport will remain closed on Sundays. The operations of Indigo, SpiceJet and Jet Airways will be severely hit. Indigo, which operates 10 flights from Chandigarh, will have three flights cancelled in the new schedule. The cancelled flights include the flights in the evening slots to Srinagar, Mumbai and Bengaluru. There is no change in the flight timings of Indigo’s international flight to Dubai, which will depart at 3.45 pm. Indigo’s morning flight to Bengaluru will either depart at 8.20 am or 10.40 am.

As per the new schedule, three flights of Jet Airways stay cancelled. Local station manager at Jet Airways, Virendra Rathore, said: “The flights departing to Delhi at 6.05 pm, 7.40 pm and 9.35 pm have been discontinued in the new schedule. We have received confirmation for six flights (four to Delhi, one to Mumbai and one to Jaipur) whose timings remain unchanged.”

SpiceJet flights to Jaipur, Delhi and Hyderabad have been cancelled as per the tentative schedule. The flight to Delhi that earlier departed at 4.10 pm has been rescheduled to depart at 3.35 pm.

There has been no cancellation in Air India flights.

RK Negi, local station manager, Air India, confirmed that according to the tentative schedule, the Air India Express international flight to Sharjah would now depart at 3.20 pm on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, instead of the earlier departure timing of 5.45 pm. However, there is no mention of the international flight to Bangkok in the schedule. Air India had announced a direct flight to Bangkok from Chandigarh last year, slated to take off from October 6. The flight to Bangkok was supposed to start in April but was later deferred due to a delay in the procurement of a new aircraft. Negi said, “It is unlikely that the flight to Bangkok will be on the final list. It may be announced when the winter schedule comes out.”

In the new schedule, Air India’s flight to Leh will depart at 9.25 am on Tuesday and Saturday. Chandigarh to Delhi flight departure time at 12.40 pm remains unchanged. The flight to Mumbai will depart at 3.30 pm instead of 5.45 pm and flight to Pune will take off at 9.10 pm instead of 10.50 pm.

The flight operations of Vistara, Go Air and Air Asia are unlikely to be affected in the final list.

A senior official at the airport said the list was tentative and was given to airlines for updates. According to sources, more flights may be curtailed or rescheduled in the winter due to low visibility and the possibility of fog.