24X7 flights by March 31

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 29

The Chandigarh international airport will be functional for round-the-clock flying operations by March 31, the Central Government told the Punjab and Haryana High Court today.

As a petition filed in public interest for making the airport fully functional came up for resumed hearing before a Division Bench of the High Court, the Centre submitted that the entire work related to night operations at the Chandigarh international airport was expected to be over by March-end.

Appearing before the Bench of Chief Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Arun Palli, Assistant Solicitor-General of India Chetan Mittal added that a substantial amount of work for making the airport fully operational round the clock had been completed. He added that issues related to delay in payments of the agencies involved in the work at the airport would also be resolved expeditiously.

The Bench, during the course of the hearing, was also told that the Chandigarh international airport was already receiving offers from some airlines willing to start Chandigarh-Delhi flights till 11.45 pm and at 6 am. Giving details, Mittal added that the airlines had shown interest in late-night and early-morning flights after the airport decided to extend the parking facility at the Chandigarh airport. The Bench was further told that the Chandigarh Administration had already initiated the process to acquire 0.6 acre for installing the category-III instrument-landing system at the local airport.

The High Court has already been told that several new flights from Chandigarh to Delhi, Mumbai and the Middle East were on the cards. The flights to Mumbai would further connect to international destinations such as London, Manchester, Paris and Amsterdam.

A report by amicus curiae or the friend of the court ML Sarin, based on a high-powered meeting, had stated that the instrument-landing system CAT I would mean availability of 9,000 ft of runway length.

Sarin had submitted that he was told during the meeting that the work of further extending the runway was going on in full swing and would be available by the end of February 2019. Sarin added that he was told that everything was going in accordance with the schedule submitted before the High Court.