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No takers leaves flights grounded for second day at Chandigarh airport
IndiGo and Air India had announced five and two flights, respectively, on Tuesday, but both carriers cancelled the flights due to inadequate bookings
Even though operations at Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport resumed on Monday following a ceasefire pact between India and Pakistan, no flights operated for the second straight day (Tuesday) in the absence of zero passenger bookings.
Airlines opted not to fly to or from Chandigarh as they did not receive sufficient passenger load. Currently, three airlines operate from the airport — IndiGo, Air India and Alliance Air.
IndiGo had planned to resume services on Monday to and from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Leh, but later cancelled these flights citing low passenger turnout.
Even on Tuesday, IndiGo and Air India had announced five and two flights, respectively, but both carriers cancelled the flights due to inadequate bookings.
As of now, passenger load for Wednesday also remains very low
Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) CEO Ajay Kumar stated that operations were expected to normalise from May 15 onwards.
“The scheduled flights were cancelled by airline operators due to operational reasons. We expect normal operations to resume from May 15, as all flight operators had initially suspended services until 5.45 am on that date. We advise passengers to begin booking their flights to and from Chandigarh accordingly,” he added.
On May 7, all 52 civilian flights were suspended at the airport after the Indian Air Force took control of the facility in response to intelligence inputs suggesting potential strikes on military installations by Pakistan.
Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport serves several major domestic routes, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Leh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Chennai, Patna and Pune. It also operates two international flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, handling an average daily footfall of around 10,000 passengers.
The civil terminal is managed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) in collaboration with the Punjab and Haryana governments. The runway and air traffic control, however, are managed by the Chandigarh Air Force station, which also regulates the operational hours for commercial flights.
