Ch'garh Airport to be equipped for int'l flights

The international flights from Chandigarh-Mohali international airport would be operational from August, 2009 and security personnel, X-Ray machines including other infrastructure would be installed during this month.

This was disclosed by Chief Secretary, Punjab S C Aggarwal during a high level meeting held here today for provisioning of required facilities at this airport. He informed that to facilitate the late night international flight operations, the officers of Airport Authority of India has been directed to extend watch hours of air traffic controller (ATC) upto midnight.

He added that the Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal had already taken up the matter with the Union Minister of Civil Aviation  Praful Patel to direct the Air Force authorities to extend ATC watch hours by 0100 hours for international flight operations. He added that Fly Dubai Airlines intends to start international operations from this airport during the month of July but due to the delay in installation of required infrastructure at the airport, the international flights would now be made operational from the month of August.

The Chief Secretary informed that this international airport would cater to the needs of passengers belonging to Punjab, UT Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh as well as Uttranachal also. He added that the security personnel would be provided by the Punjab Government whereas computer and x-ray machines would be installed by the Chandigarh Administration and Airport Authority of India respectively.

The Bus services connecting to the inter-state bus terminus Chandigarh would be provided by the Chandigarh Administration.