Runway repair: No night flights at Amritsar airport for a year

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 25

All flight operations during the night for the next year will cease at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport from 8 pm tomorrow to pave the way for the restructuring of its runway.

Besides, visitors’ entry has been restricted and vigil has been increased at the airport complex after the Bureau of Civil Aviation sounded high alert for a week.

Airport Director Venkateshwar Rao said flight operations would remain closed from 8 pm to 5.30 am for a year, starting tomorrow.

The revamping of 12,000-ft runway, with an investment of over Rs 100 crore, has been due for long. All airlines have re-scheduled their flights from night to day.

The overhauling will make the airport fit to accommodate all big aircraft being used in the world. The last re-carpeting of the runway was carried out in 2001-03.

The airport director said that security has been beefed up in and around the airport. “Paid entry to the departure lounge has been banned. Passengers have been barred from entering the departure lounge to see off their relatives.”

Even the movement of vehicles has been restricted while the CISF has deployed more combatants.

The director requested passengers to reach a little early at the airport so that they could go through all required security checks in time.

It is for the second time that security has been put on high alert in the past three months. In January, a high alert was sounded in the wake of the Pathankot airbase terror attack.