Chandigarh Airport To Remain Closed From 12th May To 31st May!

Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) have announced that the Chandigarh airport will remain closed from 12^th May to 31^st May.

The airport will be closed to carry out expansion and repair work of the airport runway.

According to the NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) issued by authorities, no civil and military flights will operate from Chandigarh Airport during this period.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is going to work in phases to develop and expand the Chandigarh Airport runway. Here are the details of the expansion work to be carried out in phases-

Phase 1 (12^th -26^th February) – In phase 1, seven extra layers of concrete were added to strengthen the runway.

Phase 2 (12^th-31^st May) – In the second phase authorities will start working on increasing the length of the runway from 9,000 ft to 10,400 ft.

After 31^st May, flights will be allowed to operate during the day, but the length of the usable runway would be limited to 7,200 to 8,000 ft. Phase 2 will be completed by end of 2018 and normal operations will resume on the expanded runway at the airport.

The airport will also be installing runway lights and other navigational guides after 31st may without disrupting operations. However, flight operations in the evening will be possible once the lighting system is in place at the airport.

The Chandigarh International Airport handles 30 commercial flights daily which fly to international destinations such as Bangkok, Dubai and Sharjah. The airport also caters to flights from domestic routes such as  Mumbai, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Delhi and many other cities.

The total passenger traffic at the airport is approximately 1.6 lakh a month and passengers will be affected by this 20-day closure. The closest two options for air travellers during this period are Amritsar Airport and Delhi Airport, which are about 250 Km away from Chandigarh.

*Disclaimer – In our previous version of the article we had mentioned that installation of the lighting system and navigational guides will be part of phase 3 which was to start in 2019. But the installation process will start after 31st May itself and there will be no phase 3 or closing of the airport after 31st May.