Resumption of flights from Punjab's four airports sought

New Delhi, October 17

The Punjab Government today urged the Union Government to resume domestic flight services from Adampur (Jalandhar), Pathankot, Sahnewal and Bathinda airports.

Principal Secretary (Civil Aviation) Rahul Bhandari, who attended a conference of civil aviation secretaries of various states organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation here, said these airports were a part of regional connectivity service of the Union Government.

Stating that the services from these airports were stopped during the pandemic, Bhandari said this had given a major blow to air connectivity in the region creating a lot of inconvenience to passengers.

The Principal Secretary said this must be reversed and the Centre must resume flights from these airports. He said this would help in saving time, money and energy of people besides ensuring direct air connectivity across the country. Bhandari said it would also give a major fillip to the economic activity in the region.

Bhandari also urged the Centre to expedite the work on construction of civil terminal at Halwara airport. He said the land for it has already been given by the state government and work on this ambitious project had already begun.

The official also sought more international flights from Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, Chandigarh. Bhandari said more international flights would help the NRIs from Punjab to stay connected with their roots. He said not only people from the state, but those from Jammu-Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand and others too will be benefitted from it.