Punjab poised for an airport boom: Mohali, Bathinda, Ludhiana, more

Amritsar/Ludhiana: 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 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 said a senior Punjab civil aviation 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.
In June, the number of international passengers at Amritsar airport grew 37.4 per cent over the corresponding month of previous year. For Delhi, the increase was only 6.9 per cent.
Punjab has also witnessed a rise in the number of international flights. For instance, Malaysian Airlines started flights to Amritsar last year. Flight movement in the city increased by 61.2 per cent in March this year while the international traffic at Delhi airport grew a mere 10.6 per cent during the period.
06/09/07 Jasbir Singh/World Sikh News, US

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Categories: Airports Sep 2007, New Sep 2007