Halwara International airport: Runway in making, March 31 fresh deadline

Finally, the new international airport coming up at the Halwara airbase is all ready to take off with the runway overlaying in progress, the government has said.

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As the entire civil work and also the majority part inside the Indian Air Force (IAF) premises are almost complete, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) is likely to issue the airport code, which is mandatory for the operations, and tentative operational date shortly.

With this, the bidding process for the operations of the airlines is also being launched, which is a process of a couple of months before commercial flights begin operations from here.

The IAF has given March 31 as the deadline for completing the ongoing overlaying of the runway from where the flights will operate, a senior official told The Tribune here on Sunday.

The development assumes significance as the Rs 50-crore much-awaited and much-delayed big ticket project took over three years and missed at least 14 deadlines to see the light of the day.

Ludhiana, which is Punjab’s industrial hub with almost 4 million population, is at present serviced by a small airport at Sahnewal. Located at the geographical centre of the state, the new international airport will serve the entire state as well as neighbouring areas.

While the integrated civil enclave and cargo terminal building, sub-station and toilet block at Air Force Station in Halwara, which is one of the oldest frontline airbases of the IAF, close to Ludhiana, had already come up, the allied civil works of the major project have also been completed.

With all the pending nods having been procured, the work on all other components, which faced long delays in the past for want of statutory approvals, has also been finished.

According to the current status report, the civil construction work has already been completed and the IAF, which owns the airbase on which the airport has been built, has also finished over 90 per cent work to widen link taxiways within the IAF campus, following which the airport will become operational.

While the overlaying of Taxi A and new link taxi on the IAF campus has almost been done, the work on overlaying of Taxi D was in the advanced stage of completion.

The AAI and other agencies concerned were in the process of finalising contracts for civil, electrical, environmental support services, help desk and commercial contracts such as food and beverages, retail and passenger baggage trolley services, which are likely to be completed by March 31.

While the security equipment including X-Ray baggage inspection system (XBIS), hand-held metal detectors (HHMDs), and door frame metal detectors (DFMDs) were being provided by the Airport System Directorate from the corporate headquarters of the AAI, which will be done by January 31, the installation of flight information display system (FIDS) and CCTV network has already been completed.

The installation of signage inside the terminal building was almost complete while the signage on city and air sides will be completed by the month end.

While the car parking for 75 cars and two buses was ready and the security manpower survey by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) was completed, the final security vetting by the BCAS, fire NOC, and statutory approval from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) will be issued by January 31.

Miscellaneous works such as cooling pits, security watchtowers, levelling near apron area and cutting of trees will be done by this month end telephone and internet connections inside the terminal will be operational by February 28.

Besides, the work on the sewage treatment plant (STP) and drinking water facility has been completed.

The finishing touches were being given to the interim terminal building, sub-station, toilet block, apron, and taxiway before handing them over to the AAI.

Also, the bridge at the entry of approach road has been fully constructed while the approach road to the airport campus has been almost completed.

Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, who was the main force behind the big ticket project, has pushed the case for issuance of an airport code and the tentative operational date for the airport.

Arora has urged the AAI Chairman Vipin Kumar, whom he met recently, to issue the airport code and confirming the operational date, as these steps were crucial for the airlines to file the necessary no objection certificate (NOC) with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and to obtain requisite permissions from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

“Acting swiftly, the AAI Chairman instructed the officials concerned from the operations team of the authority to do the needful at the earliest possible,” Arora said while also urging Air India functionaries to get the ball rolling from the IATA (International Air Transport Association) for launching flights from Ludhiana.

The AAI Chairman assured Arora that commercial flight operations from Ludhiana will commence soon.

Earlier, Arora had met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and had requested for expediting work by the IAF.

Recently, the AAI and the IAF had granted in-principle approvals to undertake the balance work at the upcoming airport. Since the new integrated civil enclave and cargo terminal are coming up at the Air Force Station in Halwara, the formal nod of the IAF was mandatory to undertake the work inside the IAF-governed areas.

Committed to making airport operational soon: CM

“We are committed to making the new airport operational by March 31 following which more domestic and new international flights will be launched from here. We have provided all requisite support and assistance to finish the ongoing work at the earliest,” said Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister.