A year gone, Adampur airport awaits take-off

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 16

Despite spending Rs 18 cr on the construction of the domestic terminal at the Adampur airport in the last two years, there has been no news on the commencement of the proposed flight by Spicejet to Delhi.

Adampur airport, the much hyped project of the Union Minister of State for Social justice and Empowerment (MSJ&E) and BJP’s state president Vijay Sampla, seems to have landed in trouble after the airlines operator entered into a deadlock with Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) over the operation of the proposed flight from terminal T2 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) at New Delhi.

Though the airline authorities could not be contacted, sources claimed that while DIAL has asked Spicejet to transfer one-third of its operations to terminal T2 from terminal T1 due to congestion, the latter refused to do so and was adamant on operating it from terminal T1 only.

While the district administration is through with the completion of the airport terminal, the commencement of the flights is expected to take some more time.

The airlines operator has reportedly argued that while it was allotted two routes, including Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Adampur in Jalandhar, under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) last year, there was no mention that it will be operated from terminal T2 only.

According to the DC Varinder Sharma, the infrastructure has been completed. “The terminal is ready, the acquisition process and the approach road are complete. We have even installed an underground water tank at the site. We are only waiting for the announcement of the final launch date by the airlines authorities,” said Sharma, adding that the route is expected to offer huge traffic potential to the airlines as over 40 per cent of the people travelling abroad from Punjab are from Doaba.

Adampur airport so far has missed numerous deadlines in the last one year. After missing its first deadline on September 25, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, the BJP even fell short to offer the much-promised Diwali gift to Doaba region. While Sampla claimed that the operation of the newly constructed airport will begin early in 2018, the project may take long for final take-off.