MOHALI: The facilities of premium lounge and smoking zones have been made operational at Chandigarh International Airport.
Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) chief executive officer (CEO) Rakesh Dembla said, “Premium lounge, smoking zone have been made operational at Chandigarh Airport, which has witnessed perpendicular increase in airport development in the last 10 years.
There are five aerobridges for easy boarding, 18 remote parking bays to accommodate more aircraft, five baggage claim carousels belts in the arrival area. At present, the airport has a footfall of 10,500 with 90 flights, 45 arrivals and 45 departures daily. ”
He added that currently, CHIAL was operating an average of 45 domestic flights per day, connecting Chandigarh to major cities of India like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Goa, Bengaluru, Leh, Pune, Lucknow, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Srinagar, Shimla, Kullu, Dharamshala and two international flights (one Indigo for Dubai daily and other for Sharjah twice a week). The airport is handling an average of 10,500 passengers daily.
Dembla said, “We have seen a perpendicular increase in airport development in the last 10 years. Chandigarh Airport has seen a sharp increase in the number of passengers, flights and facilities provided to passengers. The old airport could manage less number of passengers due to it’s handling capacity.
Ten years ago, only 12 flights were operating in Chandigarh. ” He said that to accommodate the ever increasing needs of flights to various destinations, the new building was inaugurated in 2015 with a capacity to handle approximately 4. 5 million passengers per annum.
