New International airport gets ready for take off, final touches by April 30
Finally, the upcoming international airport is ready to take off in Ludhiana with final touches targeted to be finished by April 30, the government has said.
Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Jain has pressed the Indian Air Force (IAF) to complete the ongoing pending 10 per cent work at the earliest and has initiated the process to procure certain statutory nods from various departments, mainly the Union Government before the month-end.
The development assumes significance as the new international airport coming up at the Halwara air base had been granted the airport code, which is mandatory before launching the operations and was named the Halwara Airport by the Centre in January till the time any formal decision to give any specific name to the facility was taken.
Reviewing the progress of the ongoing works at the Air Force station and the civil terminal, the DC instructed the officials concerned to finish the pending work, final touches and procure mandatory approvals without any further delay to ensure that the airport gets completely ready to take off by April 30.
Jain took stock of the progress of the runaway relaying, casting works and signage installation, besides other pending issues at a meeting with senior officials of the IAF and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) here.
He asked the officials concerned from the PWD, Central agencies and private companies undertaking the ongoing works to expedite the pending tasks for their immediate completion.
Stressing the need for effective coordination between the departments concerned and their officials, besides private agencies, the DC directed them to address any missing issues promptly.
Recently, the Centre had asked the state government to hand over the physical possession of the civil airport terminal complete in all respects to launch the operations.
With this, the bidding process for the operations of the airlines was also set to be launched shortly, which will take a couple of months before the commercial flights begin operations from here.
Air India had already announced plans to launch flights from Ludhiana once the airport becomes operational.
Except the overlaying of runway, which is also in the advanced stage of completion, the airport is ready to take off with the IAF and the state government completing almost all pending works inside their respective territories while giving final touches.
“Central Electricity Authority (CEA) approval, fire NOC, tree cutting, signage at main terminal building, both arrival and departure sides and in the IAF area, lighting and cabling with installation of CCR, cabling, and lighting for the new taxiway and apron area, markings on taxiway and apron, furniture for VIP room and terminal chairs for the SHA area, testing and commissioning of CCTVs and FIDS systems, work on the drainage system in the operational area, replacement of chain-link fencing with a permanent perimeter wall, construction of a ground support equipment (GSE) area and construction of a security watchtower are the main pending tasks in progress,” the DC revealed, adding that it had been resolved that the pending issues and the next steps for making the airport operational must be finished by April 30.
“It is intimated that the ICAO code for the Halwara IAF Station is “VIHX”. Regarding the IATA code, as the information pertains mainly to the IAF Station Halwara, Ludhiana, the request has been forwarded to the Indian Air Force. We are awaiting its response and will inform the airlines as soon as details are received,” AAI Chairman Vipin Kumar had recently informed Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, who was also pushing hard for the early completion of the airport.
Further, the AAI Chairman had informed Arora that the operational date will be finalised once the terminal building was completed and officially handed over to the AAI by the state government.
While the overlaying of Taxi-A, Taxi-D and New Link Taxi inside the IAF premises has been completed, April 30 is the deadline for completing the ongoing overlaying of the runway from where the flights will operate.
Know the codes
An ICAO code is a four-letter code that identifies an airport, airline, aircraft type, or other aviation facility. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) defines these codes.
An ICAO airport code is used by air traffic control and airlines for flight planning. Based on the airport’s region and country, the first letter indicates the region, the second letter indicates the country and the third and fourth letters stand for place.
An IATA airport code, also known as an IATA location identifier or simply a location identifier, is a three-letter geocode designating many airports and metropolitan areas around the world, defined by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Missed 15 deadlines
The Rs 50-crore much-awaited and much-delayed big ticket project took over three years and missed at least 15 deadlines to see the light of the day.
To replace Sahnewal airport
Ludhiana, which is Punjab’s industrial and business capital with almost 4-million population, is at present serviced by a small airport at Sahnewal. Located at the geographical centre of the state, the new international airport will serve the entire state as well as neighbouring areas.
Ludhiana