Chandigarh International Airport is a custom airport which serves the Union Territory Chandigarh, Chandigarh capital region including Mohali, Panchkula in the Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and the southern districts of Himachal. The airport runway is located in the Union territory of Chandigarh while the international terminal is located on the south side of the runway in the village of Jhiurheri, Mohali, Punjab. The airport caters to seven domestic airlines and connecting Chandigarh to 2 International and 26 domestic destinations.
History
Chandigarh International 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. On 24 December 2015 the Mohali Industries Association filed a Public Interest Litigation 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.
Facilities
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 Jhiurheri 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 aero bridges 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, wifi inside the terminal and one duty-free shop in the departures area. The airport facilities are operated by CHIAL but the airport does not have an official website of its own. As of December 2018 update, online baggage screeing system will be installed by the end of July 2019, and passenger check-in counters will be increased from 24 to 36.
Runway
From year 2017-2019, the runway went through a major upgrade and repair that was completed on 9 April 2019. After this repair work, the expanded runway is 12,400 ft long with effective take-off length of runway 10,400 ft. Since 10 April 2019, the airport is available for 24 hour operations with CAT IIB ILS. Airport will be closed for 5 hours every Sunday till September 30, thereafter it will remain shut every second and fourth Saturday for repairs The first night flight was launched by GoAir on October 5, 2019
Airlines and destinations
Location and surface transport connectivity
The new terminal is located from Chandigarh City centre in Sector 17. Chandigarh Transport Undertaking 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
On 20 September 2014, An Antonov 32 transport plane operated by the Indian Air Force was damaged beyond repair while landing at the Chandigarh International Airport. Upon landing the right hand wing broke off and the airplane rolled over and came to rest inverted, in the grass next to the runway. The left hand wing was also severed and the Number 1 propeller broke away from the engine. This led to a fire break out, but was quickly contained. A few people on board the aircraft suffered minor burn injuries.
