Year on, Bathinda airport has lone flight to Delhi
Perneet Singh
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, November 28
Almost a year after the inauguration of the Bathinda airport, all it offers is a lone thrice-a-week flight to New Delhi. It seems airlines do not expect favourable passenger traffic to make regular operations commercially viable.
Bathinda airport’s station manager Ramesh Ram told The Tribune, “The airport is functioning under the Prime Minister’s UDAN scheme meant for low fare airlines. As of now, there is no proposal to link other cities with Bathinda. There is, though, a possibility that it will be connected with Jammu in future.”
He claimed the response to the Bathinda-Delhi flight had been good, with 90 per cent occupancy. The 70-seater ATR-72 aircraft of Alliance Air (a subsidiary of Air India) connects the two cities on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Former CII Punjab chairman Gunbir Singh said, “There is potential in connecting Bathinda with Chandigarh, Jammu and Amritsar. The possibility of Bathinda having an air link with Rajasthan may also be explored.”
He further said airports like the one in Bathinda may have better connectivity if hoppers operate. “For instance, there can be an Amritsar-Bathinda-Jaipur flight. It will give airports under the UDAN scheme better connectivity and also ensure new link for the source airport.”
He didn’t rule out the prospect of a low-cost air carrier evincing interest in operating flights from Bathinda.
Prior to its inauguration in December 2016, the Bathinda airport remained a non-starter for four years as no airline showed interest in starting flights from a city which is neither an industrial nor a business hub.
The state government had acquired 42 acres at Virk Kalan village and handed it over to the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which had spent Rs 25 crore for constructing a civil enclave adjoining Bhisiana Air Force Station. The airport building is under the control of the AAI, while the runway, air traffic and emergency services are the domain of the Air Force.
