Hisar Airport

Location

In Hisar city itself, the airport is about 1 km from the Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology; 2 km from the Blue Bird Lake; 4 km from the bus station along the National Highway 10, 5 km from the town center and main market area around Firoz Shah Palace Complex, 6 km from the Hisar Junction railway station, 7km from Mahabir Stadium, 11 km from Hisar Military Station, 11 km from Amardeep colony and 27 km from Kanwari.

History

In 1965, Hisar airfield, spread over 194 acres (79 ha), was built for the Hisar Aviation Club. In 1999, Hisar Aviation Club was merged with Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation (HICA). The airport is managed by HICA, which provides flight training using light aircraft.

In 2002, the Delhi Flying Club (DFC) shifted all its flying activities and aircraft to Hisar from Safdarjung Airport in Delhi.

In 2011, the Government of Haryana invited Request for Qualification (RFQ) from commercial parties for the setting up of Integrated General Aviation hubs as public–private partnerships; with Hisar to be one of the airports to have a hub. Expansion plans entail aircraft maintenance and Fixed Based Operator facilities.

In August 2012, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation approved a state government plan to develop the airport to allow domestic airline services. Its 4,000 feet (1,219 m) runway will be extended to 6,000 feet (1,829 m), to accommodate turboprop aircraft such as the ATR 72 and jets such as the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. The airport's night flying equipment was also upgraded in 2012.

In December 2014, the newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party government said that, to reduce the air traffic congestion at Delhi, the Government of India had already commissioned a survey for upgrading Hisar airport (170 kilometres (110 mi) from Delhi) into an International airport; as Hisar is also a Counter Magnet City within the National Capital Region and the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project (DMIC).

As of July 2016, Hisar based Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation’s flying club had two air crafts, a 4-seater Cessna 172 built in 2008 and an old 2-seater Cessna 152 built in 1986. The institutes has 15 approved seats to impart training for the commercial pilot licence (CPL) and private pilot licence (PPL). The CPL costs INR 22,00,000 requiring a minimum of 200 hours flying experience.

In July 2016, the Chief Minister and Defence Minister announced the commencement of the preparations to start the army airport and army air craft MRO (Maintenance, repair, and operations) at Hisar airport. In 2016-17 budget, the Government of Haryana approved INR 50 crore (INR 500 million) for the development of Hisar airport into an international airport with passenger and cargo operations and 3000 acre MRO (Maintenance, repair, and operations) and Fixed-base Operations (FBO) aerospace industrial park and aviation hub to be developed by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HSIIDC). A French consultant has been already appointed by the Civil Aviation Department, Haryana and in Phase-I, this amount will be spent on the expansion of the runway from 4,000 feet to 7,000 feet and renovation of the terminal buildings at a cost of Rs 50 crore, for which The National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra has already carried out the soil testing. Airport is based on 194 acres of land and an additional 3,500 acres land next to the airport is owned by various haryana government departments will be transferred to Civil Aviation Department, Haryana for the development of International aviation and MRO hub. In 2016, a French consultant was granted a INR 8 crore project to install runway lights for the night landing operation.