Punjab plans strong takeoff for airports

New Delhi: The Punjab government has sent a proposal to the civil aviation ministry for setting up an international airport in Mohali — the second in the state after Amritsar — near Chandigarh.
The state government also proposes to develop Bathinda, an air base station, and the airport in the industrial town of Ludhiana, which gets one flight a day, into full-fledged domestic airports.
“The work for Mohali airport entails building an international terminal near the existing Chandigarh station of the IAF,” said a senior Punjab civil aviation official who was here a few days ago to discuss the proposal with the ministry and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
The airports at Mohali and Bathinda are proposed to be developed by the AAI while Ludhiana airport is likely to be developed through a private-public partnership.
“We will use the domestic terminal and the airstrip of the Chandigarh airbase, which will be on the other side of the newly built international terminal,” said the official. The runway, around 9,000 ft, can handle passenger aircraft.
An airport in Mohali is considered viable as Amritsar airport has already absorbed a lot of international traffic of Delhi airport. As a result, Amritsar airport has seen a huge increase in the number of international passengers.
03/09/07 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

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Categories: Airports Sep 2007, New Sep 2007