Education Dept urged to sign pact with AAI for operationalising Bhuntar airport hangar

Wing Commander Kunal Sharma, Commanding Officer of 1 HP Air Squadron NCC, Kullu, has called on the state Education Department and the district authorities to expedite the signing of a long-pending memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The agreement is crucial for operationalising the hangar at the airport at Bhuntar.

According to Wing Commander Sharma, nearly 95 per cent of the required infrastructure is already in place. Once the AAI, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) complete inspections, the NCC’s SW 80 Virus microlight aircraft can be stationed in Kullu for cadet training.

His appeal follows a successful route reconnaissance and trial landing of the microlight aircraft at the challenging Bhuntar airstrip yesterday. Originally allotted to the Kullu Air Wing over two decades ago, the aircraft had remained stationed in Patiala due to the absence of a functional hangar in Kullu. The recent flight, piloted by Group Captain A Bhardwaj of 3 Punjab Air Squadron NCC, Patiala, alongside Wing Commander Sharma, marked a milestone. After the trial, the aircraft returned to Patiala, but the event signalled a promising revival of NCC Air Wing flying training in the region.

The successful landing has rekindled hope among cadets, many of whom have long faced the burden of traveling to Patiala or Pinjore for flight training. The distance, especially for girl cadets, often posed a barrier, with families hesitant to send them out of the state. The reactivation of the Kullu facility is expected to make aviation training more accessible, inclusive and locally grounded.

“We have the aircraft. We have the terrain. We have the hangar almost ready. Now we need the sign-off to lift off,” said Wing Commander Sharma, emphasising that bureaucratic delays should not stall a project that was poised to benefit the youth of Himachal Pradesh.

The hangar at the Bhuntar airport has remained idle for years due to incomplete infrastructure. Constructed by the state government in 2012, the absence of a taxi track connecting it to the runway rendered it unusable. After persistent efforts by the NCC, the AAI began constructing a taxi track in 2023 at a cost of Rs 57 lakh. In March 2024, the Deputy Commissioner of Kullu reviewed the hangar’s repair work and urged swift action on pending estimates. By April this year, the Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh, accompanied by Wing Commander Sharma, inspected the site. They stated that Rs 1.5 crore had already been invested and an additional Rs 75 lakh had been sanctioned to complete the project.