Expansion of Bhuntar airport runway hangs fire

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, October 12

The expansion of the runway at the Kullu-Manali Airport at Bhuntar has been hanging fire for a long time. Many proposals and surveys regarding the runway expansion have been conducted in the past but nothing concrete has come out of these.

The expansion of the airport is a long-pending demand of region’s hoteliers as well as other stakeholders of the tourism industry. Due to the short runway, an aircraft packed with passengers cannot land or take off, which forces travellers to pay hefty charges for travelling between Delhi and Kullu.

At present, a 70-seater ATR-72 aircraft of Alliance Air, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the national carrier Air India, is being operated from the airport. The aircraft is allowed to ferry only around 20 passengers due to load stipulation because of the short runway.

The airline generally charges above Rs 22,000 for a Kullu-Delhi ticket and over Rs 20,000 for Kullu-Chandigarh travel.

The hoteliers said the expansion of the runway was must to enable medium-sized aircrafts to operate and ferry more passengers. It would also encourage other airlines to start operations in this sector, thereby reducing the airfares, which in turn would promote tourism and boost the economy of the region.

A team of senior officials of the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation had carried out a survey on March 6 to explore the possibility of runway extension. There is a proposal to increase the length of the runway from 1,052 metres to 1,712 metres by diverting the Beas.

Mukesh Thakur, president of Hoteliers Association Manali, said, “The association has raised this issue with the state and Central Government. However, there is little possibility for its expansion. The state government is constructing a big airport in Mandi and we are hopeful that it will definitely give impetus to the tourism industry here.”