IAF spares land for Chandigarh, Leh airports

New Delhi, June 3

The Indian Air Force (IAF) will part with its land to allow expansion of civil airport infrastructure at 13 locations, including Srinagar, Chandigarh, Leh, Adampur (near Jalandhar) and Barmer (Rajasthan).

Among the 13 airports, the IAF has facilitated permission from the Ministry of Defence to hand over defence land to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at seven locations under the Regional Connectivity Scheme. The seven airports are in Adampur, Utarlai (Barmer), Bagdogra, Darbhanga, Sarsawa (Saharanpur), Kanpur and Gorakhpur.

Approximately 40 acres will be spared for the development of civil terminals and airfield infrastructure for flights, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

The IAF is also in the process of handing over its land for the expansion of civil airports at six other locations — Srinagar, Chandigarh, Leh, Pune, Agra and Thanjavur.

This will facilitate the expansion of the existing terminals and facilities to accommodate enhanced number of passengers and cargo infrastructure, the MoD said.