Chandigarh airport remains closed for second day

The Chandigarh airport remained closed for all commercial flights for the second day Sunday owing to repairs, putting air travellers to a lot of inconvenience.

The runway of the airport, which is controlled by defence authorities, is undergoing repairs due to which it was closed Saturday and Sunday, said officials.

The Indian Air Force (IAF), which operates several flights from this airport for frontier areas, particular to Leh (Ladakh), is carrying out the repairs on the runway.

All commercial flights to and from Chandigarh stood cancelled from 10 a.m. Saturday due to the repair work. Only three commercial flights landed and took off from here prior to that time Saturday.

Airport officials said normal flights are likely to be resumed Monday onwards.

At least 18 commercial flights operate from Chandigarh daily. These connect Chandigarh to New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Indore, Raipur and Srinagar.

The two-day closure of the airport has put the burden on trains, taxis and Volvo buses to other destinations, particularly New Delhi, 250 km from here. All these modes of transport saw heavy bookings.