Team from ministry inspects work at Jubbarhatti airport

Tribune news Service

Shimla, October 7

A high-level team from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, along with representatives of the Alliance Air, made a two-day inspection of the Jubbarhatti airport near here to inspect the works completed for resumption of flights from here after a span of over three years.

The safety in charge from Alliance Air and the officials from the Civil Aviation inspected the resurfaced and the widened runway to check the feasibility of starting ATR-72. There has been no regular flight from the Jubbarhatti airport since September 2012 and efforts are being made to provide the state capital with aerial connectivity at the earliest.

The team is expected to submit its report to its higher ups. Since the width of the runway has been increased from 23 mts to 30 mts, the possibility of landing of an ATR-72 instead of the earlier ATR-42 is high. The length of the runway at Jubbarhatti is 1189 mts as compared to 1052 mts at Bhuntar airport in Kullu.

Since ATR-72 is landing at Bhuntar, there are chances that trial run for similar aircraft will be done for Shimla. “Though the width of runway, both at Bhuntar and Jubbarhatti is same, there are several other factors like elevation, temperature and wind which are taken into account, so we are hoping that there will be a positive outcome,” said Airport Director, Parwinder Tiwari.

The carpeting of the runway has been undertaken at a cost of Rs 7 crores and the infrastructure for having the refuelling facility has also been created.