Just two days after Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport began a scheduled runway resurfacing, a last-minute NOTAM from the Indian Air Force partially reopened the field between 05:00 and 12:00 hrs. Yet on 28 October, the terminal was eerily quiet: no commercial flights took off and only a handful of passengers turned up.
Airlines blamed the absence of bookings on the tiny operational window and the late notice. Travel agents said GDS inventory was updated only hours before departure cut-off, leaving little time to sell seats. The runway, which is shared with the IAF’s 3 Base Repair Depot, is undergoing polymer-modified emulsion (PME) treatment and will operate under restricted hours until 18 November.
The disruption affects a catchment that includes Punjab’s booming IT and agribusiness sectors. Companies relocating staff to Chandigarh’s RGCTP tech cluster report having to reroute employees through Delhi or Amritsar, adding four to six hours of surface travel. Helicopter movements are permitted outside the scheduled slot with prior military clearance, a workaround some corporates are exploring for urgent movements.
Airlines expect load factors to improve once passengers trust that flights will actually depart. The incident highlights the vulnerability of secondary Indian airports where runway maintenance often overlaps with military requirements, and underscores the need for earlier stakeholder coordination.
Airlines blamed the absence of bookings on the tiny operational window and the late notice. Travel agents said GDS inventory was updated only hours before departure cut-off, leaving little time to sell seats. The runway, which is shared with the IAF’s 3 Base Repair Depot, is undergoing polymer-modified emulsion (PME) treatment and will operate under restricted hours until 18 November.
The disruption affects a catchment that includes Punjab’s booming IT and agribusiness sectors. Companies relocating staff to Chandigarh’s RGCTP tech cluster report having to reroute employees through Delhi or Amritsar, adding four to six hours of surface travel. Helicopter movements are permitted outside the scheduled slot with prior military clearance, a workaround some corporates are exploring for urgent movements.
Airlines expect load factors to improve once passengers trust that flights will actually depart. The incident highlights the vulnerability of secondary Indian airports where runway maintenance often overlaps with military requirements, and underscores the need for earlier stakeholder coordination.
