New Chandigarh airport to be operational after October 18

With the defence ministry deciding to carry out maintenance work on the runway from October 16 to 18, the Chandigarh international airport will take some more time to become operational.

With the defence ministry deciding to carry out maintenance work on the runway from October 16 to 18, the Chandigarh international airport will take some more time to become operational.

Airport chief executive officer (CEO) Suneel Dutt said the airport would remain closed for three days for carpeting the runway and repairing the ground lights.

The Chandigarh international airport is scheduled to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a brief ceremony on September 11. The Airport Authority of India (AAI) had earlier planned to shift all 26 domestic flights to the new airport by the first week of October.

The airport, which has been marred by delays, has come up over 308 acres of land at Jheurheri village in SAS Nagar at a cost of `452 crore. Preparations are on in full swing for its inauguration and civil aviation secretary RN Choubey visited the airport recently to take stock of the arrangements.