June 23, 2014: (AirportChandigarh.com): The issue about getting international flights off the ground from Chandigarh Airport still has not been resolved, owing to the inability of Indian Air Force to offer extra staff for night landing at the airport.
Several announcements have been made in the past about international flights being started however no international flight has taken off from Chandigarh so far. Just last week, Punjab’s CM met with the Union Civil Aviation Minister and announced that three airlines operators have been given permission to operate flights to Dubai and Bangkok from Chandigarh. Times of India recently published an article mentioning that the airlines already had the permission since last year, so this was not really news. Also, the newspaper mentioned that Indian Air Force still has not allowed the permission for night landing due to shortage of adequate staff and other issues.
Chandigarh Airport was equipped to handle international flights since 2011 by obtaining the status of customs airport. The issue about night landing permission has since been pending. At this time, flights can only operate until 8 p.m. at Chandigarh Airport. Without having the night landing permission, it is not feasible to operate international flights because most international flights operate after 8 p.m.
This news can be quite disappointing since many people who have been anticipating international flights still have no clue whether or when the international flights will operate from Chandigarh Airport until the new international airport comes up at Mohali.