Even as it has been more than a year since the Chandigarh International Airport was inaugurated, none of its runways has the instrument landing system (ILS) that enables smooth landing of aircraft during bad weather, thus causing delay in the departure and arrival of flights this time as well.
The Punjab and Haryana high court earlier this year had directed the airport authorities to upgrade the landing system to make it CAT-III instrument landing system from CAT-II.
In September, the airport authorities had assured the court that one of the runways would be made CAT-III compliant after re-carpeting, but nothing has been done so far. Chandigarh International Airport director Suneel Dutt said, “It is for the Indian Air Force (IAF) to upgrade the landing system as it is defence-controlled facility. They have floated tenders for this and it will take at least a year to install the system.”
Presently, there are two international flights to Sharjah and Dubai that started in September. On November 30, flight to Dubai also got delayed by more than one hour.
{{/usCountry}}Presently, there are two international flights to Sharjah and Dubai that started in September. On November 30, flight to Dubai also got delayed by more than one hour.
{{/usCountry}}Vaneet Sharma, director of a travel agency in Sector 17, says, “It is disappointing that even after a year of the launch of the international terminal, the authorities concerned have failed to upgrade the landing system, which is a must for flight operations during low visibility. They should expedite the process of installation of CAT-III ILS to let international carriers to make use of full-bodied aircraft.”
There has been a spurt in the volume of traffic recently, with private airlines introducing eight more flights from the city. In the past one year, the annual volume of passengers has increased from 12 lakh to 15 lakh. Of this, nearly 6 lakh passengers are from Punjab, followed by Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.
Till last year, there were only 13 daily flights, but now the number has reached 21 with operations to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Srinagar. The airport, which started operations in 2006, had only three flights a day.