Mohali: Dubai flight to resume on March 28

Mohali, February 28

The twice-a-week flight to Dubai will resume on March 28, when the summer flight schedule will start. At present, only the Sharjah flight is operational from the local airport.

Rakesh Dembla, CEO, Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL), said apart from resuming the Dubai flight, there was a plan to increase domestic flights from 56 to 76 (both arrivals and departures). Dembla said there was also a proposal for a flight from the city airport to Heathrow Airport in London, which was likely to start in October, when the winter schedule would be implemented. This would provide a huge relief to the Punjabi diaspora from the tricity as at present, they have to board a flight either from Delhi or Amritsar.

The CEO said recently the authorities had a meeting with the British High Commission for starting the flight to London and the proposal was being pushed by Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher. He said the direct flight would most likely be to Heathrow Airport in London or the Birmingham airport, which was around 170 km from London.

Meanwhile, with a dip in Covid cases, the airport has started recording more business as over the past week, the footfall has increased to 10,000 with more people resuming air travel. The airport had seen a drop of 40 per cent in footfall between January and mid-February, which was down to 6,000 a day.