No flights operating, Ghaziabad’s Hindon civil terminal put on G20 alert

Officials of the civil terminal from the Airports Authority of India said they have received a communication in this regard from the ministry of home affairs

With no flights operating for the past couple of months, the civil terminal in Hindon has now been asked to maintain preparedness that may be required for services during the G20 Summit on September 9-10, which is likely to culminate with the meeting of heads of the governments and states of member nations in New Delhi.

The Hindon Airport Civil Terminal in Ghaziabad in 2019. (Sakib Ali/HT Archive)

The officials of the civil terminal from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) said they have received a communication in this regard from the ministry of home affairs (MHA).

“We have received communication from the MHA to keep the civil terminal ready for the G20 Summit. The details will be shared by the MHA and ministry of external affairs and cannot be disclosed. We have started preparations with the limited staff available with us,” said Saraswathi Venkat, the director of the civil terminal.

The civil terminal, which became operational in 2019, operated flights to different routes under the central government’s regional connectivity services, also known as ‘Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN)’.

The civil terminal, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 8, 2019, was initially proposed to operate flights to eight routes -- Nasik, Pithoragarh, Kannur, Hubli, Faizabad, Shimla, Jamnagar and Kalaburgi.

However, flights to Pithoragarh were suspended in 2020 and have not resumed since then while those on the other routes were suspended in January 2023. Since then, no flight has operated from the civil terminal.

The station director refused to comment on the reasons for suspension of flights and when they might resume.

The civil terminal has come up at Sikandarpur adjacent to the Hindon airbase and uses the runway of the airbase to operate civil flights.

The officials of the Ghaziabad municipal corporation said they have started a survey of the maintenance needed from the Delhi-Wazirabad Road near the civil terminal.

“We will soon chalk out the maintenance needed for the road and other agencies will also chip in. The nearby Hindon elevated road which connects to Delhi is already pothole free and will be checked again. The roundabouts and road will be subjected to repairs or relaying wherever needed while we will also ensure that all streetlights, cleanliness and other amenities are in proper order before the G20 events. It is likely that the works will get complete within the next seven to 10 days,” said NK Chaudhary, chief engineer of the corporation.