Chandigarh Airport Runway Repair work has left schedules of many flights disrupted for the past few days. Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport aka Chandigarh Airport is witnessing runway repair work from past multiple days. In fact, on Monday, no flights took off or landed at Chandigarh International Airport.
The reason is that the Indian Air Force (IAF) is carrying out runway repairs and carpeting at the airport. Initially a complete closure for civilian flights from October 27. But on October 24, it came out with a revised NOTAM (Notice to Airmen), allowing partial operations from 5 am to noon. However, a few last-minute changes left both airlines and travellers unprepared, thus resulting in zero bookings. And, hence, no flights took off or landed at the airport.
Now the question arises when will Chandigarh Airport runway repair work will complete and flights schedules return to normalcy? Continue reading below to know the details-
As per revised NOTM, the Chandigarh airport will remain partially open – from October 26 to November 6. Flights will operate from 5 am to noon. It further mentions that from November 7 to November 18, operations will extend until 11 pm, with closures between 11 pm and 5 am.
Hence, the daytime flights at Chandigarh Airport is expected to return to normalcy from November 7.
Notably, on October 28, Chandigarh International Airport also shared a tweet that reads, "As the runway is under the control of the Indian Air Force, essential repair and maintenance work has been initiated on priority to ensure aircraft and passenger safety, requiring closure for a few hours each day.
However, to minimize inconvenience, a dedicated flight operations window has been provided daily for the affected dates. From 7th November onwards, all flights will operate as per the Winter Schedule."
Airport CEO Ajay Verma was also quoted saying that from Wednesday onwards, efforts are being made to resume limited flights to Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad for passenger convenience. Full operations are expected to normalize from November 7, when the winter flight schedule comes into effect.
Update on full completion of Chandigarh Runway repair work is yet to come i.e. when night-time carpeting on runway will be completed. However, if going by the NOTM, it is expected to completed till November 18 as no NOTM has been issued till now beyond November 18.
In the meantime, after no activity at Chandigarh Airport for a day, airline fares also skyrocketed, with tickets on the Delhi–Chandigarh route rising to ₹15,000, compared to the usual ₹4,000–₹5,000 range. The disruption further affected courier and cargo operations from the Tricity region. On October 29, it was reported that on average, around 40 quintals of parcels and documents are dispatched daily from the airport, which now stand delayed for the next few days.
