No request for international flight slot pending at Chandigarh airport, Centre tells Rajya Sabha
Minister replies to MP Satnam Sandhu’s question
The Union government has confirmed to Parliament that Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh, meets all prescribed standards for scheduled international flight operations but not a single airline operator has a slot request pending with the airport, which continues to struggle for global connectivity even after over a decade.
The disclosure came in a written reply furnished by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol in the Rajya Sabha to an unstarred question by BJP MP Satnam Singh Sandhu. The answer confirmed that the airport is technically and operationally ready yet sits at barely 60% of its capacity, with only two international routes to its name and no carrier apparently queuing up for more.
Responding to Sandhu’s three-part question, which asked for an assessment of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) compliance, a list of approved or pending carriers and a timeline for full international flight facilitation, the government said the airport meets all applicable DGCA guidelines and BCAS security norms. The essential facilities required for international aircraft operations — Customs, immigration and the Airport Health Organisation — are all in place.
On the question of carriers, the government noted that IndiGo currently operates international services from Chandigarh. On the question of a timeline for expanding international services, the minister said, “No slot request from any airline operator is pending with the airport.” The reply made no mention of a timeline for full international flight facilitation.
A new dimension to an old debate
For over a decade, the political argument for expanding international connectivity from Chandigarh has rested on two pillars: the infrastructure case and the demand case. The infrastructure case has always been strong — world-class terminal, wide-body capable runway and full customs and immigration setup. The demand case has been built on the argument that millions of passengers from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and parts of Jammu and Kashmir are being forced to travel to Delhi to catch international flights, adding 11 to 12 hours to their journeys.
The government’s latest reply does not contradict either argument. But it adds a third element that complicates the narrative: if the demand is so robust and the infrastructure so ready, why is no airline requesting slots?
The answer lies in the ‘Point of Call’ (PoC) conundrum that has shadowed the airport since its inauguration. Under India’s Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASA), foreign carriers — Emirates, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines — cannot legally fly to an Indian airport unless it is designated a Point of Call on India’s bilateral offer lists. Chandigarh does not carry that designation. This means that the slot window, while technically open, is functionally closed to the very airlines most likely to drive large-scale international traffic.
Indian carriers — IndiGo, Air India and others — face no such restriction. They can fly internationally from any designated international airport under BASA, and Chandigarh qualifies. The government had noted as much in a previous parliamentary reply in March 2026, when Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu told the Rajya Sabha that Indian carriers “are at liberty to operate from any of our airports provided that the airport is designated as an international airport like Chandigarh airport.” Yet the slot ledger for Chandigarh remains empty.
