After a delay of over a year, the air shuttle service by SpiceJet was launched between Hisar and Chandigarh on Tuesday under the Regional Connectivity Service. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar flagged off the service and also become the first passenger to take the flight to Chandigarh.
To begin with, the air travel has been started through a small seven-seater aircraft, later 18-seater and larger aircraft would also fly from Hisar. SpiceJet would provide the service of two flights between Hisar and Chandigarh daily. The flights will take off from Hisar at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and from Chandigarh at 9.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m and the one-way fare has been fixed at ₹1,674. For booking, SpiceJet will soon set up its own call centre at the airport and after a week the process of advance booking would start, for which the company had to complete some formalities.
After Hisar and Chandigarh, SpiceJet would gradually expand its air services from Hisar to Delhi, Jammu, Dehradun and Shimla.
Interacting with media persons before taking the flight, Mr. Khattar said that it was a historic day for the people of Haryana.
With Hisar airport, the dream of many people of the State had been fulfilled, as now they could take air flights from their own.
He said that Hisar airport would be linked with Rapid Rail Task Force System from Delhi and the distance from Delhi to Hisar could be covered in just 90 minutes. For this, the work on railway line between Rohtak and Hansi was in progress.
Phased development
Mr. Khattar said that Hisar airport would be developed as an international-level airport in three phases. For this, 4,200 acres had been made available and the process of providing 3,000 acres of additional land was in progress.
The Chief Minister said the length of the runway, which is 4,000 feet at present, would be increased to 10,000 feet, which is a required set criteria for an international-level airport.
He said that hangers would be constructed in the second phase. In the third phase, the work of increasing the length of the runway and other civil works would be completed. Mr. Khattar said that Hisar airport would be the most suitable option to reduce the air traffic pressure at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi.