Commercial flight operations from the Hindon airport near here are likely to begin from the first half of October as the Ministry of Defence has given all requisite approvals, a senior official of the Airports Authority of India said on Friday. Hindon airport, which is around 40 km from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, belongs to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the AAI has developed the civil enclave there.
"Some issues related to slots are yet to be sorted out between the Indian Air Force and airline companies. It is expected that these matters will be resolved soon and the flight operations will begin from the first half of October this year from Hindon," the AAI official said.
"The Ministry of Defence has given green light to the proposal of Ghodawat Enterprises as well as Delhi-based Heritage Aviation for the operation of RCS (regional air connectivity scheme) flights from Hindon airport", the AAI official added. Ghodawat Enterprises runs the airline brand Star Air, headquartered in Bengaluru.
Under the Civil Aviation Ministry's regional air connectivity scheme -- UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) -- many airline operators including IndiGo have bagged routes connecting from Hindon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 8 had inaugurated the new civil enclave at Hindon airport from where commercial flights would be operated. The civil enclave, which cost around Rs 40 crore, can handle up to 300 passengers during peak hours.
The airport infrastructure was developed by the AAI while the approach road has been built by the Uttar Pradesh government. The operations were expected to begin from March 15. However, discussions with the Indian Air Force regarding slots took a long time.
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