Airport type Military and Civil Location Mohali, Punjab, India 11/29 2,744 Elevation 308 m Yearly aircraft movements 1,350 | Serves Chandigarh Elevation AMSL 314 m / 1,030 ft Code IXC Phone 0172 224 2004 | |
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Operator Indian Air Force/Airports Authority of India/Chandigarh International Airport Limited Address Airport Road, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Punjab 160003 | ||
Chandigarh international airport landing and airport new terminal indigo 6e 884
Chandigarh International Airport (IATA: IXC, ICAO: VICG) is a customs airport which serves the Union Territory Chandigarh and the Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. The airport runway is located in the Union territory of Chandigarh while the new international terminal is located on the south side of the runway in the village of Jhiurheri, Mohali, Punjab.
Contents
Military and Civil
Chandigarh airport operated all its Civil and Commercial operations from Civil enclave of the Indian Air Force Station. Indian Airlines started operating flights from Chandigarh to Delhi in the 1970s. A new airport building was constructed in the Civil Enclave was opened on 14 April 2011. This Air Terminal was declared a Customs Airport on 19 August 2011 making it eligible for international flights but no international flight ever operated from this terminal.
In 2008, the Government of Punjab acquired 304.04 acres of land on the south side of the existing runway in Jheurheri village at a cost of ₹452 crore to build the new international terminal. This new terminal was completed in 2015 at a cost of ₹939 crore. The Government of Punjab and the Government of Haryana each have 24.5% stake and the Airports Authority of India holds the rest of 51% stake in the new terminal building.
International flights
On 24 December 2015 the Mohali Industries Association filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for non-operation of international flights after an amount of ₹1400 crores was spent on the airport. After numerous hearings at Punjab and Haryana High Court and a long wait, IndiGo and Air India Express commenced flights to Dubai and Sharjah respectively from September 2016..
Terminal
The new terminal was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 11 September 2015. This new eco-friendly terminal is one of its kind in India was built by Larsen and Toubro. The indoors of the airport laid with plants, brings a feeling of a botanical garden. It is located at the village of Jhiurheriin in Punjab, and became operational on 19 October 2015.
The old domestic terminal will now be used for VIPs and flying club. Construction of the new terminal included two link taxiways to the terminal and cargo complex. The terminal has 4 airbriges apron for parking four in contact and 8 remote parking stands for aircraft. The departures are on the first floor and arrivals on the ground floor. The first phase terminal covering 53,000 sq metre has a capacity of 1,600 passengers at a time and a parking space for 150 vehicles. This airport is not a greenfield airport but uses the runway of the present Indian air force base.
There is one ATM located in the parking area, while there is WiFi or money exchange inside the airport. The airport facilities are operated by CHAIL but the airport does not have an official website of its own.
Runway
The present runway 11/29 has a length of 9,000 ft (2,700 m). The runway uses a CAT 1 ILS system.
Flights to this airport are limited to operate between sunrise to 10:00 pm Monday to Friday and sunrise to 8:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday. The short 9000 ft runway limits operations to narrow bodied aircraft that are limited of a 5000 km radius. The short runway also does not allow operation of wide bodied aircraft.
Connectivity
The new terminal is located 14 km (8.7 mi) from Chandigarh City centre in Sector 17. Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) Route 38 and 36 operates public AC bus to Sector 17, PGI, Panjab University and to Interstate Bus Terminal in Sector 43 from the airport, moreover CTU has its own dedicated mobile app called CTU bus guide from where all the routes and time of buses to and from the airport can be obtained. Chandigarh Interstate Bus terminal located 10 km from airport in Sector 43 operates direct bus services to all major cities in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
Accidents and incidents
Naming of the airport
In 2009, Punjab Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution naming Chandigarh Airport as Shaheed-E-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh International Airport after Revolutionary Freedom fighter of India, Sardar Bhagat Singh as decided during his birth centenary celebrations in 2007. Leader of opposition of Haryana Legislative Assembly, Abhay Singh Chautala supported Punjab's claim of naming it as Shaheed-E-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh International Airport, Mohali as the airport is situated in Jheourheri village of Mohali. Indian Youth Congress started march (padyatra) for naming the Chandigarh airport after Bhagat Singh. People's Party of Punjab members protested against Central and Haryana governments for not naming airport as Shaheed-E-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh International Airport, Mohali.
In October 2015, Shaheed Bhagat Singh's nephews Professor Jagmohan Singh and Abhey Singh Sandhu and Aam Aadmi Party MP Dharamvir Gandhi alongside Youths from Punjab and several other states, including activists from the tricity, assembled at Tribune Chowk and demanded to change the name to Shaheed-E-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh International Airport. On 17 December 2015, Communist Party of India (Marxist) flayed the Centre and the Haryana Government for trying to name Chandigarh Airport after RSS ideologue Mangal Sein, instead of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh as previous Hooda Government was also in support of naming it after Bhagat Singh.