Chandigarh airport resumes ops, first flight lands from Delhi
With India and Pakistan agreeing to a ceasefire, the Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport in Mohali resumed operations on Monday, and the first civilian flight -- an Indigo flight 6E 9057 from Delhi -- landing at 8.59 pm.
All 52 civilian flights had been suspended since May 7 when the Indian Air Force took control over the facility amid intelligence inputs that the neighbouring country may hit military installations in India in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, as part of which India had targeted several terrorist hideouts in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Chandigarh International Airport Ltd (CHIAL) chief executive officer (CEO) Ajay Kumar said, 'The airport is now operational and open for normal flight operations with immediate effect. The airlines have been informed, and we are hopeful that they will resume flights in a day or two.'
Kumar advised passengers to check flight status directly with their respective airlines and monitor the official website of the airlines for latest information, he said. At present, three Airlines operate from this airport -- Indigo, Air India and Alliance Air.
On Monday, Indigo airlines initially issued a press statement that it has resumed flight bookings on the recently closed routes, including Delhi-Chandigarh route but after drone spotting at several places late evening, the airlines cancelled its flights. IndiGo said in a post on X at 23:38 hours on Monday,'In light of the latest developments and with your safety as our utmost priority, flights to and from Jammu, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Leh, Srinagar, and Rajkot are cancelled for 13th May 2025,' The airline also said its teams are actively monitoring the situation.
The Chandigarh airport caters to several major domestic routes, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Leh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Chennai, Patna, and Pune. It also operates two international flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), handling a daily footfall of approximately 10,000 passengers.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) manages the civil terminal in collaboration with the Punjab and Haryana governments, while runway operations and air traffic control fall under the jurisdiction of the Chandigarh Air Force Station, which also determines the operational hours for commercial passenger flights.
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