AAI team surveys Adampur airport

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 21

A team from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) today surveyed the 50-acre site proposed for the domestic airport at Kandola village in Adampur and raised concerns.

Debashish Khan, General Manager (Architect), AAI, who headed the team, said the Doaba Airport Welfare Association (DAWA) claimed that it would not find a minimum traffic of 300 passengers on a daily basis. Khan said this requirement needed to be fulfilled to make the airport viable for domestic operations.

“No airline will be ready to operate in the region if it foresees financial losses due to inadequate traffic,” said Khan. He said though the proposed land had been cleared in technical aspects, the AAI was yet to receive a traffic feasibility report from DAWA.

He denied Union minister Vijay Sampla’s recent claim of getting the final approval from the Ministry of Defence to build an airport at Adampur. The officials said once the AAI received the traffic feasibility report, it would approach the ministry to get the land allotted for the airport.

On the contrary, DAWA was satisfied with AAI team’s visit. “Jalandhar is a hub of medical tourism, higher education institutes and sports goods. It will attract a major flow of air traffic. Sports industry alone caters to around 90 per cent of the exports from the state. Also, the many NRIs from the region will fly here,” said Ashwani Kumar, honorary secretary, DAWA.

Meanwhile, experts questioned why an airport needed to be set up in Doaba when 96 per cent of the passengers who flew here were from abroad. They said these passengers would rather fly into Amritsar International Airport.