IAF's Satwari Airport in Jammu now open for civil air traffic

With Haryana's public transport system in disarray due to the Jat agitation, the government on Sunday ordered the opening of Air Force’s Satwari Airport in Jammu for civil air traffic in the night.

A number of train services to and from Haryana to Jammu, Udhampur and Delhi have been cancelled while road movement to Delhi has been hampered, resulting in severe hardship and constraints to a number of people.

Following this, Air Force administration at Jammu has been asked to keep the Satwari Airport open for civil air traffic in the night from Sunday.

“This measure will ensure availability of airport for civil operators round the clock. The administration of Airport Authority of India and all other civil aviation agencies like Directorate General of Civil Aviation and airline operating companies have been intimated by the Indian Air Force through a notice to airmen regarding the extended period of availability of airport,” an official statement said.

While, the Civil Aviation ministry has asked airlines to operate additional flights from New Delhi to Chandigarh, Amritsar and Jaipur to enable stranded people reach their destinations.

As part of this, all major domestic operators including Air India, Jet Airways and IndiGo will fly additional services from and to Delhi, an official release said. Air India also said that it is offering special nominal fares for its additional flights.

Air India on Sunday operated an additional service from Delhi to Chandigarh, which went to Amritsar and then back to Delhi.

SpiceJet operated additional services on Delhi-Jaipur-Delhi, Delhi-Amritsar-Delhi and Delhi-Chandigarh Delhi while Jet operated Delhi-Amritsar-Delhi. IndiGo will be operating an additional service on Delhi-Chandigarh-Delhi and Delhi-Jaipur-Delhi on Monday besides one it operated on Sunday.

“In view of the exigency we have extended our relief flight operations and have put in 10 additional flights between Delhi-Amritsar, Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Chandigarh routes on Sunday. Airport managers in these airports have been given clear instructions to facilitate best possible services to the stranded passengers at airports,” SpiceJet said in a statement. IndiGo said it will add two additional flights from Delhi to Chandigarh on Monday. These supplementary flights will allow stranded passengers to travel between these cities.