Centre seeks Halwara airport possession to begin operations

The new international airport coming up at Halwara airbase will be called the Halwara airport. It has been granted the airport code, which is mandatory before launching the operations.

The Centre has asked the state government to hand over the physical possession of the civil airport terminal complete in all respects, so that it can be made operational.

The bidding process for airlines’ operations will also be launched shortly. It will take a couple of months before commercial flights begin operating from here, sources maintain. Air India has already announced plans to launch flights from Ludhiana once the airport becomes operational.

The development assumes significance as except overlaying of runway, which is also progressing fast, the airport is ready to take off with the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the state government completing almost all pending works.

This has been conveyed by Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Vipin Kumar in a demi-official letter to Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora, who recently called on him to press for the grant of airport code besides announcing the formal date to launch operations.

“It is intimated that the ICAO code for IAF Station, Halwara, is ‘VIHX’. Regarding the IATA code, as information mainly pertains to the IAF Station, Halwara, the request has been forwarded to the Indian Air Force. We are awaiting their response and will inform the airlines as soon as the details are received,” the AAI Chairman has said.

An International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) code is a four-letter code that identifies an airport, airline, aircraft type, or other aviation facility.

The AAI Chairman told Arora that the operational date would be finalised once the terminal building was completed and officially handed over to the AAI by the Punjab Government.

Meanwhile, Arora took up the matter with Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal and urged him to ensure the formal handing over of the new terminal building by the Public Works Department to the AAI at the earliest for ensuring that the airport gets operation soon.

Runway to be ready by March

While the overlaying of Taxi-A, Taxi-D and New Link Taxi inside the IAF premises is almost complete, March 31 is the deadline for completing the ongoing overlaying of the runway.