The Haryana government’s plan to start air services from the State’s first civil airport in Hisar, the first phase of which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on August 15 last year, seems to have hit turbulence with accusations flying thick and fast between airlines, and the State and Central governments over the delay.
Notice to airlines
Though Mr. Khattar had then expressed hope that M/s Pinnacleair Private Limited would commence operations by mid-October last year, the Airports Authority of India has now issued a notice to airlines over prolonged delay in starting services and directed it to do so at the earliest.
The notice was issued recently after the Haryana government had in a letter dated December 24, 2018, to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said that all facilities for starting scheduled operations were in place at the Hisar civil airport and a licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation was also obtained on September 27, 2018, but there was no progress from airlines regarding initiation of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) flights on allotted routes despite persistent follow-up.
As per the communication between Haryana Civil Aviation Minister Rao Narbir Singh and the MoCA, airlines were awarded the Hisar-Chandigarh and Hisar-Delhi routes during the second round of bidding under the RCS-UDAN scheme on January 1, 2018. Operations were to start within six months of the date of letter of award.
When contacted, a senior Pinnacleair official told The Hindu that the MoCA was yet to clear the Delhi airport slot to them for the Hisar-Delhi-Hisar route, leading to the delay.
“We were allotted the Hisar-Chandigarh-Hisar and Hisar-Delhi-Hisar routes. However, the MoCA has not cleared the Delhi airport slot till date, which makes the entire project financially unviable for us,” said the official.
Alleging that the attitude and policies of the two governments were not “encouraging for civil aviation”, the official said they had written to the Haryana government “tens of emails” seeking ticketing counter, and maintenance and parking areas at Hisar airport as prerequisite for starting the services but there was “no response”.
Runway length
He said the length of the runway should also be increased from the present 2,000 feet to 6,000 feet.
“Though an 18-seater aircraft can land on the existing 2,000-foot runway, it may need a longer runway on a hot and humid day. We have requested the Haryana government to increase the length of the runway but they are yet to reply,” he said.
However, Haryana Civil Aviation Department Additional Chief Secretary Devender Singh denied the allegations saying that the ticket counter was duly allotted and placed in the passenger terminal. He said the airlines were yet to obtain a scheduled operators licence.
“The requirement for a 6,000-foot runway is absurd. The MoCA has verified in writing that the runway length is sufficient,” said Mr. Singh.
Next phases
The State government plans to develop a cargo terminal, aerospace, defence university, defence MRO and an aviation university in the second phase of the project.
In the third phase of the project, it has plans to develop the airport at Hisar as an international airport owing to increasing pressure on the international airport in New Delhi.
